WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS (Martin Stadium)
What can I say about Martin Stadium that I haven’t already said? For my money, the renovated version of Martin Stadium is going to go down as one of the most beautiful football settings in the conference and that’s not an exaggeration.
It’s intimate, it’s got all of the big time, state-of-the-art college football facilities right inside the stadium and it’s going to be as many as 15 decibels louder than it was previously able to with the FOB and press box bouncing sound back into the stadium. I can’t get over how much different and better it looks than the previous stadium. I guess the plan is to also install a brick veneer system around the lower wall of the stadium, which will look super-cool and totally unique.
All that said, there is still work to do. Martin is the smallest stadium in the conference by about 17,000 people, so eventually one would think expansion will be in the cards if the Cougs can become competitive and start drawing from Spokane again.
Coincidentally, Spokane is nearly double the size of Eugene and of course WSU is the only major school this side of the state so the Cougs could really draw a big number from there every week I’d think 7,000 more seats is doable. It may be a few years before that’s able to be considered though.
Also as far as fans are concerned the stands could use a serious overhaul, especially on the press box side of the stadium. Money will be an issue for awhile seeing how far into the red the University went for this, ($61 million for the OPS building and $80 million for the press box, loge boxes, club seats and luxury suites before that, $141 million overall), but the stadium seating does need to be gutted and revamped. That would probably be something that would be considered with any expansion in the future.