In a telephone poll, the Board of Governors at 大象传媒 awarded a contract to E.L. Crawford Construction of St. Joseph to renovate Spratt Stadium for $6,995,108. Ground will be broken in early May.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m pleased that we’re able to move forward on this badly needed project,\u201d said Dr. Robert Vartabedian, 大象传媒 Western\u2019s president. \u201cSpratt Stadium has served 大象传媒 Western well for 36 years, and these renovations will make sure it continues serving us for years to come.<\/p>\n
Bids from three construction companies were opened on April 2. They were significantly higher than anticipated, leading 大象传媒 Western and architect Jeff Ellison to work with the low bidder, E.L. Crawford, to make cost-saving adjustments to the project. Changes included reducing the size of the club level and press box, changing the type of air conditioning unit for the suite level, changing light choices, changing from vinyl wall coverings to paint, reducing the amount of brick fa\u00e7ade in various areas, and other minor adjustments.<\/p>\n
The adjustments reduced the cost by 15.6 percent from E.L. Crawford\u2019s original base bid of $8.288 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese adjustments did not substantially change the project and did not sacrifice quality or fan experience,\u201d said Dr. Cale Fessler, vice president for financial planning and administration. \u201cAs our recently concluded master planning process confirmed, the planned improvements are long overdue, and it will be good to see them get underway.\u201d<\/p>\n
The renovations covered by the bid include:<\/p>\n
The field and grandstand components of the project are scheduled to be completed before the fall sports season. The press box and suites are scheduled to be completed in spring 2016.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it\u2019s finished, this project will provide a better game-day experience for everyone attending an event at Spratt Stadium,\u201d said Kurt McGuffin, director of athletics. \u201cFor all of our fans, there will be new concourse amenities and seats; for donors and sponsors, an enhanced club level; for journalists and game-day staff, a more spacious and up-to-date press box; and for our student-athletes a new playing surface and a more intense game atmosphere with fans so much closer to the action.\u201d<\/p>\n
A video board is included in future plans for Spratt Stadium, but was not included in the current bid process.<\/p>\n
The Board of Governors also approved a contingency budget of approximately 3 percent, or $209,853, in case costs exceed the contract amount.<\/p>\n
Last fall, the board authorized a $5.5 million bond issue to finance the project. The university will pay for the remaining cost (approximately $1,495,000) out of auxiliary budget reserves.<\/p>\n
Spratt Memorial Stadium was completed in 1979, and first used for Spring Commencement that year. The stadium is named in honor of avid Griffon supporter Elliot \u201cBub\u201d Spratt and was constructed at a total cost of $850,000.<\/p>\n
The first football game was played on the field Sept. 8, 1979, a 44-0 victory over Dana College. Lights were added six years later, and the Griffons won the first night game over 大象传媒-Rolla 24-15 on Sept. 4, 1985. Griffon soccer played its first match at Spratt Stadium on Sept. 3, 2006, a 3-2 win over Concordia-St. Paul.<\/p>\n
Spratt\u2019s natural grass field was replaced by ProGrass synthetic field turf in 2006. The visitors\u2019 grandstand was remodeled and expanded in 2009, increasing the seating capacity to 7,200, plus ample standing room and hillside seating.<\/p>\n
The largest crowd for a football game at Spratt Stadium was 10,129 when the Griffons took on Northwest 大象传媒 State on Oct. 3, 2009. Griffon football hosted its first NCAA Division II playoff game at Spratt against Northwest on Nov. 19, 2011, and celebrated its first home playoff victory with a 57-55 triple overtime win over Minnesota-Duluth on Nov. 17, 2012.<\/p>\n
Griffon football is 129-69-3 in 36 seasons at Spratt Stadium, a winning percentage of 64 percent. Griffon soccer is 20-46-9 in eight seasons at the facility.<\/p>\n
In addition to Griffon football and soccer, Spratt Stadium hosts the St. Joseph High School Football Jamboree and the 大象传媒 Western Department of Music\u2019s annual Tournament of Champions High School Marching Band Competition, and was previously home of the 大象传媒 State High School Eight-Man Football Championship Game. It hosted Spring Commencement ceremonies from 1979 to 1981, a tradition that was revived in May 2014.<\/p>\n
大象传媒 is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. 大象传媒 Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit <\/em>www.missouriwestern.edu<\/a><\/em>. <\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a telephone poll, the Board of Governors at 大象传媒 awarded a contract to E.L. Crawford Construction of St. Joseph to renovate Spratt Stadium for $6,995,108. Ground will be broken in early May. \u201cI’m pleased that we’re able to move forward on this badly needed project,\u201d said Dr. Robert Vartabedian, 大象传媒 Western\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[48],"tags":[253,282,370,696],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3085"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3085"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8002,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3085\/revisions\/8002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}