Friday, September 14, 2007
Bright HouseNetworks Stadium to Open
College football's newest stadium will debut Saturday on the campus of UCF in Orlando as the Golden Knights take on teh Texas Longhorns. Bright House Networks Stadium seats 45,000, a welcome decrease from the cavernous Citrus Bowl where the UCF football team played their home games until this year. The field is surrounded by a single tier of seats and a tower containing the press box and 24 luxury suites rises above behind the west side of the stadium.
An interesting article in the Orlando Sentinel describes the decision to use steel to construct the stadium instead of concrete. This decision cut the projected cost of the stadium from $100 million to $54 million. Stadium architects initially proposed the concrete, but UCF stuck to its guns to ensure that it had a stadium that it could pay for without requesting money from taxpayers and without leaving it in deep debt for a long time to come. A brick facing to the stadium hides the steel construction, providing an adequate atmosphere for a college football game. Kudos to UCF officials for building a stadium within their means, yet providing an upgraded venue for college football in Central Florida.
An interesting article in the Orlando Sentinel describes the decision to use steel to construct the stadium instead of concrete. This decision cut the projected cost of the stadium from $100 million to $54 million. Stadium architects initially proposed the concrete, but UCF stuck to its guns to ensure that it had a stadium that it could pay for without requesting money from taxpayers and without leaving it in deep debt for a long time to come. A brick facing to the stadium hides the steel construction, providing an adequate atmosphere for a college football game. Kudos to UCF officials for building a stadium within their means, yet providing an upgraded venue for college football in Central Florida.
