The south end zone at Ross-Ade Stadium’s Ross-Ade Stadium will be completely redesigned by the start of the 2023 season.
The area is known as the South End Zone Patio today and is used primarily for partying. But this is changing.
Purdue A.D. Mike Bobinski said that there will be some sort of seating structure that will go in and around scoreboards so that it builds up around them. There will still be some permanent seating options in that lower area of the end zone. These are very popular right now. That patio is still there. This will allow us to keep some of the patio, but we’ll have seating.
Fans will be able to walk between the east-west stands of the stadium after the completion of Phase 1 of the $45.4 million renovation plan. This was revealed at Friday’s meeting of the Purdue Board of Trustees.
Bobinski stated that there will be an interconnector between the east-west stands. Bobinski said that this connector will allow for the long-awaited opportunity to get from the stadium’s south end to the east without having to descend and then go around.
Bobinski has a unique strategy for the corners in the south end zone.
He said that there will be a terraced seating area. As it stands now, we see a lot of that seating being similar to what they use in Major League Soccer stadiums.
Another idea: Students might be moved to south end zone.
Bobinski said that we will be considering this as we go through the process. We think there might be a great opportunity to create that kind of environment down in the end where students own that section of the stadium. We want to discuss that with them before we make any decision. It doesn’t necessarily have to be this way. But it is something we should consider.
The goal?
Bobinski stated that the main goal is to create a loud environment down there. We want to make the south end more alive and we believe that this type of seating plan will inspire people to get involved in the game, rather than just watching it.
This summer, expect renderings for the entire phase 1 project.
Fans will be most aware of the changes to the south end zones, but the change to Ross-Ade Stadium is not limited to that area. Purdue will build an underground tunnel connecting the Kozuch football performance complex to Ross-Ade Stadium. Bobinski believes that the loss of seating in the north endzone bowl will be compensated for by the new south zone.
He stated that we believe there will be an additional 3-4, 3-5,000 net. When they are removing the old entrance to the tunnel and building the new one, we will be losing some. However, we will increase the number of players in the south-end zone by several thousand. The net gain will be between 35,000 to 5,000. This is a large range. However, I would guess that the range is closer to 45,000.
Purdue will also build a nutrition/dining center in the north end of the project’s phase one.