What’s Next For Martin Stadium? Phase III Football Operations Facility

Over the past few years trying to piece together the renovation, we’ve seen a couple of different mockups and drafts for Martin Stadium’s next phase. All of these ideas came up as possibilities:

The First model idea never really had legs. An addition to the old pressbox and another level on the West side of the stadium highlighted.

Then there was the idea to put an addition across from the pressbox, on the North side above the students.

The model has evolved several times since and the third major idea is more of a one-stop-shop between the press box and the new football ops facility.

Neither of these mockups are correct representations, however. Martin has now evolved into this on the South side replacing the old pressbox.

It’s not going to be including the facility as originally mocked. The ops facility will be separate, on the west side of the stadium. It will be built into the stadium, but it won’t be connected to the pressbox. Unfortunately we do not have pictures right now that I can put up, but we do have this link to the latest and most accurate mock of what the new ops facility would look like.

"The Football Operations Buildingwill provide a new home andidentity for Cougar Football atWashington State University. It isdesigned to be an awe-inspiringenvironment that improvesmorale, maximizes individual potential,increases fundraising andsupports recruiting. This buildingwill be an asset that enrichesthe campus experience whilecreating a lasting heritage and asource of pride that contributesto the fabric of campus.The 88,880 square foot buildingis comprised primarily of the followingprogrammatic functions:Team Locker Room, Equipment,Strength and Conditioning, Trainingand Treatment, and Coachingand Operations.The need to preserve sight linesfrom adjacent seating in MartinStadium as well as campus circulationpatterns limits the availablefloor plate size as the buildablearea rises vertically out of the site.Therefore, the program has beenarranged vertically among fivelevels."

I think it’s going to be a tremendous product. Five stories high, all inclusive and built right into the stadium, this facility will be absolutely breathtaking and boost the attractiveness of the University to any and all football recruits. Right now it is a tedious job to get around campus for the players and coaches, especially when you consider that it’s so much easier in nearly every Pac-12 school. All of the current football offices and weight training centers are in Bohler, which is not terribly far but certainly takes time to get to, and after being in some of the offices over the past week or so they are very small and cramped considering.

With UW coming out strong for the 2013 season with a practically brand new stadium, itself having an ops facility,  it was and is imperative that the Cougs counter with their own. Bill Moos has said recently that the expectation is to keep the plan moving forward for the beginning of the new facility after the 2012 season. But that’s not the only reason this is great for the stadium, it’s also great for gameday. In addition to the already fantastic new structure which is nearly finished, this facility will lock in even more sound from the West end and make Martin Stadium a great place to be for both fans and players alike. I even believe it will help recruiting at other Pac-12 schools, just to be able to say that your smallest, weakest stadium in the conference has state of the art amenities is a huge deal when trying to poach from other conferences. I really can’t wait for this to get approved by Regents and for them to get a jump on it. But for now, it’s almost time to enjoy the new season with the already in progress renovations.

GO COUGS!