FSU's west side season-ticket holders get up-close look at Doak project - TheOsceola: Florida State Seminoles Football & Basketball Recruiting

Published Jun 22, 2024

FSU's west side season-ticket holders get up-close look at Doak project

Bob Ferrante • TheOsceola

Editor

Florida State donors entered Doak Campbell Stadium and were in awe: An under-construction west sideline showed plenty of progress but also work ahead in the next six weeks on the first phase of the project.

And then they grabbed Sharpies and signed a long, steel beam that was lifted by a crane and bolted into place at the 20-yard line of Doak's north end zone. Many wrote “Go Noles!” and then signed their names with the date, 6-22-2024. From small children lifted up onto a parent’s shoulders to ticket holders who have spent decades of Saturdays watching FSU football games, the moment was an appreciation of their commitment toward the future of the program.

“You look for times where you could thank them for their belief in our vision,” FSU athletics director Michael Alford said. “The beam-signing, we did it at Cowboys Stadium, we did it at Oklahoma when we did that facility. For them to have an opportunity to come and sign that beam and be a piece of history forever in historic Doak Campbell Stadium, it really means a lot. They get a lot out of it. The fellowship, watching this event take place is really something special.”

A few hundred donors, those who purchased season tickets along the west side for this fall, had first-hand view of the project. Gene Deckerhoff, Jeff Culhane and Alford were joined by representatives from the construction firms as they updated fans on the scope of the extensive project.

Construction crews have been working 24 hours a day. Steelwork is being done in the mornings and afternoons, with the lights at Doak turned on for the night shift to place pre-cast concrete.

“In order to stay on schedule, you have to get the steel in place,” FSU senior associate athletics director for capital projects Ben Zierden said. “They started at the south end and have worked their way north. We knew that once we got to a certain point, we could then start coming in behind them and start putting in the pre-cast concrete. That’s where we are now.”

Zierden said the effort has been very well coordinated. While the number of tradesman working at a time varies by day or week, there are often 70-100 workers in a daytime shift and 50-60 workers on a nighttime shift.

“They’re doing a remarkable job of being on time, buying a couple of weeks just in case we have weather so the project is on time,” Alford said. “It’s going to be ready in July 2025. I can’t wait to open it up and just let people come and walk and see the renovation and the new amenities then. That’s 14 months away to the stadium opening. It's going to be here before you know it.”

In the short term, there will be temporary seats brought in for the lower half of the west side at Doak. The temporary, chair-back seats are similar to what has been used at Tampa Bay Buccaneers games as well as PGA Tour courses and Formula 1 venues, Zierden said. After the 2024 football season, crews will finish the project down to field level.

The goal is for crews to wrap up the first phase by late July and then be down to a punch list of items in August, allowing food-service vendors to prepare for the first home game against Boston College on Sept. 2.