When the proposal to construct an addition to Spartan Stadium breezed through the MSU Athletics Department and Board of Trustees on Friday, the plan received full support from university officials.
But some students aren't as enthusiastic.
The addition to Spartan Stadium - scheduled to be completed in August 2005 - will bring 24 luxury boxes, 862 indoor and outdoor club-level seats and office space for University Development and the MSU Alumni Association.
The entire plan is expected to cost $61 million, $50 million of that cost being paid by the Athletics Department. The expected price tag has raised a red flag among some students.
"Athletics is what brings the school money," criminal justice senior Faye Higgs said. "Our money's going to a lot of stuff that we don't even know, or it's going to stuff that doesn't benefit me.
"This Athletics Department stuff doesn't benefit me - I don't go to the games."
Another student, human resource management senior Mazen Al-Dharrab, thinks the addition to Spartan Stadium is too great a financial burden to the university and too detached from student involvement.
"It is too much money," he said. "I'm not going to be renting those luxury boxes."
While the proposed changes are not tailored to student interest, the addition and expansion of the stadium is expected to generate its own revenue.
Athletics Director Ron Mason has already said he anticipates the renovation to rake in $1 million per season, and trustees have praised the plan for its cash flow and revenue base-increasing potential.
And although they're still students, two MSU football players who conceivably could be playing in the revamped stadium - redshirt freshman quarterback Drew Stanton and sophomore wide receiver Agim Shabaj - are encouraged by the Athletics Department's interest in sprucing up the football team to keep it competitive.
"I think it's going to take us to the top stadiums in the nation," Stanton said. "When you're recruited, you get to see a lot of different stadiums. Being able to watch a game (in the revamped stadium) and have that atmosphere added on is going to be pretty special."
Shabaj, who was recruited with Stanton from Farmington Hills, said the addition would bring an edge to recruitment.
"The incoming freshmen like to play in front of the big crowds," he said. "I think it'll help with more recruits and definitely bring more people in."
But as Stanton said, luxury boxes have everything to do with the fans up top, not the teams on the field.
"Any time you get to watch a game in Spartan Stadium, it's special," he said. "You go down the road - and I hate to have to use that as an example - it's not like you're playing in front of 100,000 people. They're all quiet - you can hear the 72,000 people that we have."
