Most expensive college football stadiums by total construction cost. 👀

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When will Northwestern's be completed?

Easy to see which of those was money much better spent.

Bigger is not always better.

Interesting that Minnesota's was nearly $100mm more than ours, considering it was designed by the same architectural firm (Populous), utilizes a very similar design and materials, was completed 2-3 years before ours, and seats only ~5k more people.

Mitch Henessey said:

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Interesting that Minnesota's was nearly $100mm more than ours, considering it was designed by the same architectural firm (Populous), utilizes a very similar design and materials, was completed 2-3 years before ours, and seats only ~5k more people.

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The Minnesota gophers website says it cost 288.5 million. Unless they are counting any renovations that have happened since then as well. So maybe? I don't know what they have done since the completion of that stadium

Mitch Henessey said:

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Interesting that Minnesota's was nearly $100mm more than ours, considering it was designed by the same architectural firm (Populous), utilizes a very similar design and materials, was completed 2-3 years before ours, and seats only ~5k more people.

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Minnesota's costs probably came from the fact that it is a urban site on campus that had to be redeveloped and cleaned up. UM campus was historically surrounded on the N and E side by a huge Burlington Northern railyard (similar to the ones in Temple, or on the west side of Ft Worth). The railyard is still there, but in a much smaller footprint, and campus has expanded by acquiring and redeveloping it. The costs of site cleanup, reconfiguring streets and utilities, etc., plus being in a heavily urban setting with strong union labor (more $$$) and inability to effectively work outside 3-4 months of the year would drive up the pricetag quite a bit.

EatMoreSalmon said:

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When will Northwestern's be completed?

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I was just about to say

That one in Chicago is gonna be very expensive

whitetrash said:

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Mitch Henessey said:

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Interesting that Minnesota's was nearly $100mm more than ours, considering it was designed by the same architectural firm (Populous), utilizes a very similar design and materials, was completed 2-3 years before ours, and seats only ~5k more people.

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Minnesota's costs probably came from the fact that it is a urban site on campus that had to be redeveloped and cleaned up. UM campus was historically surrounded on the N and E side by a huge Burlington Northern railyard (similar to the ones in Temple, or on the west side of Ft Worth). The railyard is still there, but in a much smaller footprint, and campus has expanded by acquiring and redeveloping it. The costs of site cleanup, reconfiguring streets and utilities, etc., plus being in a heavily urban setting with strong union labor (more $$$) and inability to effectively work outside 3-4 months of the year would drive up the pricetag quite a bit.

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I was at a resort in Mexico and talked to a guy who does Construction from Traverse City Michigan

He just said you just can't dig during that time (frozen ground)....you get the dirt work done before and above ground work is fine during that time period....and they do in even in massive feet of snow and even low temps.

Unless you run a cemetery. In which case they store you below zero until the ground thaws.

That is a dumb chart because it does not adjust the cost of the stadium based on inflation that occurred from the date of construction completion to today.

baylorrific said:

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That is a dumb chart because it does not adjust the cost of the stadium based on inflation that occurred from the date of construction completion to today.

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Or for the inflation based on the market. $266 million buys you more in Waco than it dies in Columbus.

EatMoreSalmon said:

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When will Northwestern's be completed?

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2026

Why did Cal build a new stadium? Does every one of the 5,000 who go to their games get a VIP box?

Big12Fan2024 said:

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Why did Cal build a new stadium? Does every one of the 5,000 who go to their games get a VIP box?

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They didn't. It cost that much to retrofit their 98 year old stadium that straddles an active fault line.

Not surprised. Relatively new. Now adjust for inflation and some kind of per seat or per 10000 seats. Our stadium is very nice. But if it was built 10 years sooner it wouldn't be on that list.