Fourteen thousand additional seats, most of them at the South End Zone, will allow Rutgers Athletics pfficials to respond to a soaring demand for season tickets to Scarlet Knights home games.

The home of the two-time bowl-winning Scarlet Knights football team will undergo significant changes following the Board of Governors’ approval of a plan to upgrade and expand Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway.

On January 29, board members voted 8–1 in favor of the $102 million project, which will add a total of 14,000 seats to the nearly 42,000-seat stadium, as well as additional rest rooms, concession stands, locker rooms, a new media room, and a recruiting lounge.

A new entrance off River Road will increase the stadium’s visibility and attractiveness, and room for bus pickups and drop-offs will ease traffic congestion in and around Piscataway on game days.

“The continued success of the Scarlet Knights football program is an important goal for the university,” said President Richard L. McCormick. “Academics and athletics reinforce each other, and Rutgers is committed to excellence in both endeavors. At great research universities, both contribute to the institution’s quality and reputation.”

The Rutgers football program has experienced unprecedented success and visibility the past three seasons. The team made three consecutive bowl appearances, scored two consecutive bowl victories, and notched 26 wins in three seasons. As a result, the university has received deposits for more than 10,000 new season ticket subscriptions for football.

Construction is expected to begin immediately. The first phase of the project – an additional 1,000 new mezzanine seats added to the existing structure – will be completed before the start of the 2008–09 season. By fall 2009, another 1,000 bench seats will be added to the north end zone, and 12,000 new seats will be built as part of a newly constructed south end zone section.

The expansion also will upgrade the stadium’s sound system, scoreboard, and video screen; add new elevators; and upgrade and add player and spectator support facilities.

The university will finance the majority of the project through $72 million in bonds that will be repaid through ticket revenues generated by the expansion. The remaining $30 million will come from private contributions. New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine and state Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak announced in December that they would lead the fundraising campaign, with Corzine pledging $1 million of his own money.

The board approved the stadium plan days after an open forum on the matter took place on the Livingston Campus. The forum was sponsored by the university administration, the Rutgers University Senate, the New Brunswick Faculty Council, and the Rutgers University Student Assembly.

Bruce Fehn, the interim senior vice president for administration and Rutgers’ chief financial officer, said that numerous Rutgers officials spent months analyzing the financial plan for the stadium expansion.

“My staff and I worked closely with Athletics and the Budget and Finance and Buildings and Grounds Committees of the Board of Governors to develop and review numerous assumptions and financial models,” Fehn said. “We are confident that this project will be self-supporting and that it will enhance the excellence of Rutgers athletics and be a valuable asset to the university.”

Al Gamper, former chair of the Board of Governors and current chair of the board’s Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics, said that the stadium investment comes at the right time for the state’s economy, pointing to decreasing interest rates, Rutgers’ good credit rating, and a construction industry in need of an economic boost.

“It’s the right time to invest in the state of New Jersey, to invest in the university for the right purposes,” Gamper said. “This is the time to take some risks and expand our infrastructure at this university ... New Jersey could use the shot in the arm in terms of investment.”

Echoing President McCormick’s stance that athletics and academics have a mutual relationship, board member Rochelle Gizinski, formerly the chair of the Board of Trustees, said that New Jersey residents have become more invested in Rutgers than ever before.

“I am a huge fan of Rutgers. In all these years I have seen Rutgers achieve many national accomplishments,” Gizinski said. “Sadly, none of these have evoked the response in our residents that our successful football team has. It’s important that we go forward with the stadium expansion.”

George Zoffinger was the only board member to vote against the proposed expansion, citing the length of time it would take to pay off the bonds.