Costs of running sports programs at the collegiate level continue to rise and the recent shutting down of UAB’s football program has sparked some universities to take a closer look at how they are spending money on collegiate athletics. Kent State did just that, and the review seems to be a positive one. Kent State has no plans to cut any sports, including football.
Kent State hired a consulting firm to review the state of its athletics department. While no recommendation was made to cut nay programs, the firm did advise the university to focus on raising private donations and begin to plan on renovating Dix Stadium. According to Akron Beacon Journal, the firm informed Kent State the football stadium and the MAC Center are “tired and outdated.” Kent State President Beverly Warren knows this is an area of concern, but suggests it would be unwise to spend money just to catch up with other programs.
“Certainly we have not made the investments that other institutions, some very close by, who have invested millions of dollars in new facilities,” Warren said, according to Akron Beacon Journal. “You must have private support to really renovate Dix Stadium, MAC Center or other kinds of capital outlay.”
Dix Stadium opened in 1969 and was most recently renovated in 2008. It is one of the older stadiums in the MAC and it has now been seven years since being renovated. By today’s stadium standards, that is starting to feel ancient. Unlike many stadium renovations over the years, Kent State has actually reduced the seating capacity of Dix Stadium in each of its previous two renovations, dropping from 30,250 in 2002 down to 25,319 in 2008.
