Plan increasing capacity to 108,251 passes in closest Regential vote of proposed building projects

The University's Board of Regents approved a project to renovate the Michigan Stadium with a 5-3 vote Friday morning. The $226-million renovation project includes the addition of luxury boxes as part of two new structures on the east and west sidelines.

Extending several feet above the stadium's scoreboards, the structures will include 83 luxury boxes, or private suites. The renovated stadium will also feature wider aisles, accessible seating for the disabled, 3,180 outdoor and indoor club seats and 650 chairback seats - individual seats with back support and arm rests.

The renovated stadium, with a projected seating capacity of 108,251, will accommodate nearly 1,000 more fans than the current stadium.

Regent Olivia Maynard (D-Goodrich) said some seats will be removed to build the structures, but only seats without current ticket-holders.

The Regents have discussed renovating the stadium for years. In 2003, several Regents visited Ohio State University and Pennsylvania State University to get an idea of the competition facing Michigan Stadium.

After the visit, the Regents were excited about the possibilities for Michigan's stadium, Maynard said.

Penn State's Beaver Stadium boosted its seating capacity to 107,282 after its seventh renovation completed in 2001 - making Beaver Stadium second to Michigan in capacity by only 219 seats.

The $194-million renovation to Ohio Stadium, also completed in 2001, included 81 "hospitality suites," a new press box and new bench seats.

University officials told the Daily in 2004 that Ohio Stadium served as a model for some of the proposed changes to Michigan Stadium.

"We have frankly fallen behind in many of our facilities and we've got to address them," University athletic director Bill Martin said.

Many Michigan fans are wary that the University is going too far to outdo competition.

Friday's decision comes after eight months of heated debate over whether the elite nature of the private suites projects an incorrect message about the University's values.

Critics of the project argue that the separation of wealthy fans in the luxury boxes from the crowd below suggests the University is more concerned with financial gain than a unified environment.

The 5-3 vote marks one of the most contentious issues the Regents have ever addressed. In more than 400 past building projects, the Regents have voted unanimously.

Regents opposed to the renovation plan are Laurence Deitch, Rebecca McGowan and Katherine White.

McGowan said she is concerned the project will spend "too much money on too few people."

Deitch said the project "screams of insensitivity" because Michigan's economy is doing so poorly. He proposed a $55 million to $60 million alternative option he believes would cover the necessary renovations.

Maynard, who voted for the project, said the decision was not "black and white." Maynard only recently decided to approve of the renovations - a decision she attributed to her faith in President Mary Sue Coleman and the athletic director, who have adamantly supported the project.

Martin said the plan's approval is in the best interest of Michigan athletics.

It will take at least a year to complete the design and obtain approval of the design from the Regents, Martin said.

He said the construction will be complete by 2010 and will not interrupt any football games.

The architecture firm, HNTB Architecture, was officially hired Friday to begin the project.

Addition of proposal to Regents' agenda upsets ticket-holders opposed to skyboxes

Some ticket-holders are infuriated by the secretive nature by which the University announced the approval of the Michigan Stadium renovation project Friday.

The University Board of Regents did not originally intend to discuss the proposed renovations to the Big House during Friday's meeting in Dearborn.

The Regents added discussion of the renovations to the agenda at the 11th hour, after the deadline to sign up for public comment had passed - preventing dissenters from voicing their concern at Friday's meeting.

According to the Board of Regents website (www.regents.umich.edu), the deadline to sign up for public comment is 9 a.m. the day before the meeting.

Regent Olivia Maynard (D-Goodrich) said the last-minute addition was necessary after someone leaked classified information about the renovations, including details about the construction, to the Detroit Free Press.