Notre Dame? FSU? Where Auburn is drawing inspiration for renovations to north end zone
AUBURN — Auburn athletics director John Cohen has been adamant since he was hired a year ago: There will be renovations to Jordan-Hare Stadium during his tenure, particularly in the north end zone.
Speaking on Tiger Talk, Cohen gave an update Thursday on where things sit regarding the project, which has yet to formally begin.
"We’ve had a lot of discussions about this," Cohen said. "We’re working hard behind the scenes to create a plan. When does it happen? How long does it take once you start? What is the plan? Is there connective tissue to the university in that plan? We’re putting all of that together right now.
“These things don’t happen overnight, but if you look at the north end zone – including the scoreboard, which is older than many of the people in this restaurant today – we’ve got to address some things in that north end zone, and I’m very excited about the opportunity to do that.”
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Asked if he's drawing inspiration from other programs, Cohen mentioned a few.
“We took several university personnel to Arkansas last weekend," the former Mississippi State AD said. "… We had architects (and) engineers with us going to Arkansas. We’re going to look at some facilities like Notre Dame has and their north end zone or possibly the south end zone of Florida State. We’re going to really observe this, we’re going to make really good decisions and we’re going to move Auburn forward.”
The only video board currently in Jordan-Hare Stadium is in the south end zone, which sits behind the student section and the tunnel the players run out of to get to the field.
"First thing’s first: We’ve got to create a video board in the north end zone," Cohen said. "That’s priority No. 1. When I see our entire student section at Auburn University, which creates the atmosphere at Auburn in Jordan-Hare Stadium, do this (turns head) on every play, we’ve got to do better than that. We have to. We’re going to do that.
"We’re going to design a state-of-the-art video board in the north end that’s going to fit in with several premium areas of the north end zone. Hopefully featuring a top level, a mid level with suites and a club. And then a ground level, a field-level facility that allows fans to see the game field level. I think that’s crucial.”
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Where Auburn is drawing inspiration for renovations to Jordan-Hare
