re: Can an Aggie explain to me exactly what the plan is for the stadium expansion?

We currently have three separate parts of the stadium. We have the east stands, the west stands, and the north end zone. The east and west stands are each three decks. The third deck was erected in the 70s I believe. The north end zone was erected in the late 90s.

The original plan (pre sec) was to actually reduce the seating capacity. However, that plan has obviously changed. The new stadium will now be 100,000 plus but not 115,000. The stadium as it sits is out of code. The problem is, the second you fix one thing to bring up to code, all code issues must be fixed at that point in time which is why we haven't begun to fix issues. There are bats in the stadium and they are annoying as hell. They smell too. At sunset you can often see them flying out of the stadium by the thousands. To my knowledge they are protected by some dumb animal law so we cannot take the means necessary to remove them.

Currently, the students are given the option to purchase a sports pass. The students always have had and always will have premium seating on the east side of the field. They occupy 90% of the east stands. However, this kills our revenue for ticket sales. As it sits, we have very few luxury suites as well. This will be a main focus of the new stadium is to drastically increase the number of suites available to increase revenue by a considerable margin.

We are about to begin a 6 month study to discuss all and diagnose all options available to us. IMO the two feasible options are to tear down both the east and west stands simultaneously and play ONE season in reliant stadium in Houston. We will not be misplaced from Kyle Field for more than a year. The other option is to have Kyle Field under construction for 3 or 4 years and do the upgrades piece by piece as to not have to play a season away at Reliant. This could consist of erecting a south end zone, then tearing down the west side and rebuilding it, then tearing down the east side and rebuilding it.

There is also serious talk about tearing things down to just the base structure and trying to salvage some. I for one do not like this idea. Tear it down and build it right

So the basics are we will not be away from Kyle for more than one season regardless which decision is made. The plan is to be just north of 100,000 in capacity. Construction will begin at the earliest following the 2013 season.

People will bitch and moan regardless which decision is made. Hopefully our decision makers are not swayed by that and do this right. One season away from Kyle at Reliant for an incredible stadium for 50 to 69 years into the future is well worth it IMO. We are in the position we are in now because the decision makers who have been in control of Kyle the last 40 years didn't think far enough ahead