A brand new game

As painters work their way around the scoreboard pillars in the South End Zone, swirling around like the candy stripes they are painting onto the support beams, IU Athletics Director Fred Glass can’t help but glimpse into the future.

His dream – his vision – is finally near.

And whether it works out or not, one thing is for certain: the “game-day experience,” as he calls it, will never be the same at Memorial Stadium.

“We’re sitting in this unbelievable new North End Zone facility,” Glass said, stretching his arms wide to showcase the building. “It’s really taken our stadium from being MAC-like or Missouri Valley-like to being Big Ten-like. We are a legitimate Big Ten stadium.”

His motivations are not purely related to making students happy. The reasoning behind these developments is also related to the financial security of the department.

“We’ve got to fill Memorial Stadium because we’ve got to support our football team and to get the kind of competitive advantage we want for football,” Glass said.

“But that’s not the only reason we’ve got to fill Memorial Stadium. We’ve got to fill Memorial Stadium because those football revenues drive all of our other programs ... We’ve got to fill it because it drives all of the funding for our other sports.”

In fact, in terms of how much money is spent per sport, IU is second from the bottom in the Big Ten, with Northwestern coming in last.

IU is also third to last in football profit, topping only Northwestern and Purdue.

“If you look at that list in descending order, it’s remarkably close to a descending list of the largest Big Ten football stadiums to the smallest,” Glass said.

“That’s not an accident. Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State make more in one Saturday than I’ll make the entire season here at IU. We are at a dramatic disadvantage.”

He also said, for better or for worse, the number of memories made in Memorial Stadium is directly related to the amount of IU graduates who come back for football games and donate to the University.

“Athletics is gateway to a lifetime connection with the University,” Glass said. “I think the whole support structure of the University in terms of alumni is at stake when we’re talking about getting people connected to athletics.”

Glass said he thinks the renovations and playing better football will help change all that.

He described the new paint on the entryways, the retro scoreboard hanging outside on the North End Zone and many other new amenities.

The goal of such attractions is to bring fans to a stadium that has a new face and, he hopes, a promising future.

“They can come for the football, but I also think they come for the atmosphere,” Glass said.

While Glass admits the stands won’t be completely full until IU’s performance picks up on the field, he said he wants to do all he can to bring up revenues until the team gets to where that takes care of itself.

Some other plans he has for opening day include Knothole Park, an area in the South
End Zone where children can play on a replica field just behind the southern goal post.

Greek organizations, dormitories and other groups could place their letters or emblems around the park if they purchase a certain amount of tickets as a group.

For fans near the end zones, there is another new feature they can bring home with them.

The nets behind the field goal posts will be taken down this year, allowing balls to fly into the crowd. Glass said fans can keep any ball they catch.

They will, however, be encouraged to throw an opposing team’s ball back onto the field, similar to the atmosphere in Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs.

Glass said he believes capturing the imagination of the student body is key.
If these changes can accomplish that, the alumni, faculty, staff and residents will follow.

“I think it would be a fun thing for me to go to,” he said. “I was a college student here. That was the kind of stuff I liked.”

Glass also said he hopes for more ideas to come from his department and other members of the University for future use.

“I tell our people, think Little Five,” Glass said. “We want it to feel like Little Five. The pageantry, the color, the collegiateness of it.”

He reached out toward those candy stripes, his dream just outside his grasp – but not for long.

On Thursday, it will become a reality.

Indiana Daily Student reporter Ryan Campagna contributed to this story.