Ross-Ade South End Zone Renovations: The FANTASTIC Idea

Morgan Burke announced this week that there would definitely be a renovation of the south end zone at Ross-Ade Stadium coming, possibly as soon as the end of this season. Morgan Burke wants to take out the current bleachers, install a new video board, and have a club/terrace section installed.

This will reduce the capacity of Ross-Ade by about 5,000, but it is an opportunity to make a unique statement for Purdue. That is what this entry is about. A year ago Matt Wille, a fellow alum, sent a rendering to Boiled Sports that made its way around the web. With the renovation it sounds very similar to what Matt had in mind. As you can see above, it is spectacular. Among the highlights:

• The wider video board will be a fantastic addition for replays and such.
• There is a terraced, field level club area that sounds on par with what Burke has in mind.
  
• The tunnels to the field are also something Burke had in mind, and would look great for both teams coming onto the field.
  
• The front of the terraced clubs section forms a "Ring of Honor" with the names and numbers of Purdue football greats, a nice touch if you ask me.
  
• The final part is the most spectacular: making Victorian Era train cars as luxury boxes that can be rented for games. In the front we can either have a Victorian Era locomotive, a retired Boilermaker Special, or a ramp from Wooden Drive that goes up to where the Special itself can park next to the rail cars during games instead of going down to the field.
• You could have a general seating terrace next to the train cars and even above them.

This is what Matt had to say about the train cars:

It just seems like such a unique and iconic part of that stadium that adds to the atmosphere there -everyone loves it. So why not put the BMS or an old locomotive on display in ours? It is our mascot after all. If you've ever been to the Crown Plaza Hotel at Union Station in downtown Indianapolis, they have an actual old train that you can stay in, with cars that have been renovated into actual hotel rooms. I thought why not do the same in Ross-Ade, but use them as game day suites with some outdoor seating? Or, open them up on the other side and use them as concession and merchandise stands? While I think a beer garden, etc. would be great to incorporate, having the train cars there would essentially also keep people in the stands in order to watch the game instead of gathering in the concession areas for a majority of the game. While we're at it, instead of having steam blown from the top of our scoreboard after a touchdown, how cool would it be to have an actual locomotive engine, or the Special doing that instead?

So there it is. if you like it (and how can you not), contact the athletic department and Morgan Burke to let them know! imagine what this would look like on game days, especially if the East Deck is later added. I don't often ask you guys to contact the athletic department for anything, but this is something I feel we can get behind as fans to really make Ross-Ade Stadium look great.

Here are your contacts. Feel free to send them this post and the idea behind it, because I will. Let's make this happen!

Morgan Burke: mjb@purdue.edu

Foxy Lefon (football secretary: fdlafon@purdue.edu

John Purdue Club: jpc@purdue.edu

Nancy Cross (Director of JPC): ncross@purdue.edu