Foreman Field's clamshell design would have to go

Expanding to just over 30,000 seats would cost $45.1 million. And expansion of the 74-year-old stadium in Norfolk could be done by 2013. That's what professor David Basco's senior civil and environmental engineering class at Old Dominion came up with in a spring semester research project that was part educational, part practical. Although ODU has entertained thoughts about stadium expansion, the idea hasn't gotten much beyond the talking stages. Basco's class had a grocery list of project choices it could have tackled. But football at ODU is a hot-ticket item, so the top choice was a no-brainer.

So the class of 15 put those engineering brains together to figure out how Foreman Field could be expanded enough to put ODU in position to become the nation's No. 1 team in attendance for the Football Championship Subdivision. And the class had to retain the basic integrity of the site. The students came up with a plan where the "clamshells" would be built over with a squared-off design, the sideline and end zone seats would be connected by balcony seating at a 45-degree angle to the field, and 24 luxury suites would be added, giving Foreman Field 48 suites.

"The big challenge is that the northwest corner of the playing field is only 52 feet from Bluestone Avenue," said Basco, himself an ODU football fan. "Fourteen weeks ago, when this project was started, we didn't have a clue where it would go. Now, we have a feasibility study of expansion." The class presented its findings to a handful of ODU administrators, including associate athletic director Bruce Stewart, and some of the region's top architects and engineers, including the man whose name resides on the stadium facade, Steve Ballard. "I'm interested to see what they have to offer," said Ballard, whose company completed a $24.8 million renovation of the stadium nine months ago.

If the class gets its wish, S.B. Ballard Stadium at Foreman Field will look a lot different in the near future. The class design calls for raising the existing scoreboard 50 feet and creating an enclosed north end of the stadium. The seats beyond the north end zone would be torn down and replaced. The sideline "clamshells" would be squared off and 12 skyboxes added at the top of both sides, replacing the existing press box and coaches boxes. Basco's class attacked the stadium's shortage of bathrooms, stressing that no modern-day stadium should rely on port-a-johns. And its study pointed to shortcomings in space for the visiting team locker room and concessions. Bringing the stadium up to modern-day code restrictions was a priority. "This football program sold a lot of tickets last year," said Ryan Hill, a student who acted as point man for post-presentation discussion. "We want a full stadium. But we also want a good balance of supply and demand. We had thought about building a second deck and expanding to 45,000 seats. But we thought better in the end."

Asked if they had approached the Virginia's Department of Historical Resources with the idea of building over a landmark structure that was constructed in 1936, the class sheepishly acknowledged it hadn't. "But our new design would incorporate the classic archways design of Foreman Field," said another of Basco's students, Ryan Hancock. "Anyone who had been to Foreman Field in the past would know they were still at Foreman Field." The class tackled all of the processes of structural engineering through a 70-minute presentation, from beam load to soil integrity to going "green" with its new-fangled building.

There was an energy level throughout the presentation that had obviously been present throughout the semester. Asked how many in the class had attended an ODU football game last fall, a dozen hands went up. "The vibe for football at ODU is fantastic," said Hill, who is in the Air Force and is attending classes at ODU as part of his on-the-job training. "What we wanted to do was stick with the theme of Foreman Field... but blow the top off the place."

The class even had a little fun with the project. Borrowing from Wrigley Field's practice of having roof-top seating outside the stadium for Chicago Cubs games, the class suggested one easy way to bump the current seating from 19,782 to over 20,000 would be by adding bleacher seats atop the game day building in the south end zone and on the top floor of the nearby parking deck.

As student William Hankins pointed out, getting the seating over 20,000 would add authenticity to the football program. The overall class design would result in 30,516 seats. The bevy of ideas was not lost on Stewart, who is in charge of football operations and would be a key player in any stadium expansion. "These students were thinking outside the box and offered perspectives we might not have considered," Stewart said. "Information sharing like this is a wonderful thing as this program moves forward. I was pleasantly surprised, not only by their passion but by their initiative. Some of their ideas really caught my attention."