Major Changes (at Major Costs) Coming to Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, per OU Regents

Oklahoma’s next big renovation project to Memorial Stadium — and perhaps Joe Castiglione’s final master stroke as OU’s athletic director — is taking shape.

The OU Board of Regents on Friday published the agenda for next week’s scheduled meeting in Oklahoma City, which includes updated details on the Stadium Master Plan — at a maximum cost of $30 million.

According to the agenda, OU regents are expected to:

1, Approve the design development phase and authorize preparation of construction documents.

2, Authorize the president to contract and make payments for professional architectural and construction management services not in excess of $30 million, taking the total project cost to an expected $450 million.

3, Authorize negotiations with At-Risk Construction Management Services (with Manhattan Construction Company).

4, Authorize the administration to negotiate a guaranteed maximum price for construction, which will be presented to the board for formal approval. (See screenshots of documents below.)

Castiglione announced this summer that he will be retiring within the year. His Stadium Master Plan was implemented in 2014, when regents approved a cost of $15 million.

This spring and summer, the agenda reads, “a vigorous project design effort has been underway” to rebuild and redevelop the west side of Memorial Stadium, as well as “gameday facilities and operational elements as well as amenities and infrastructure” to enhance fan experience.

This includes major construction to the west side of the stadium — a project Castiglione has said will be the biggest part of the overhaul of Memorial Stadium, including the bowling in of the south end zone and the Switzer Center from 2014-16, which raised stadium seating capacity to 83,489. That reconfiguration and expansion cost $160 million, according to Henderson Engineers.

Since the beginning of the Bob Stoops era, when the Sooners won their most recent national championship in 2000, Memorial Stadium has undergone a series of major renovations, beginning with the expansion of the east side, which included the addition of the upper deck and brought stadium capacity from 72,765 (following renovations in 1998) to 82,112.

The Switzer Center got a facelift in 2009, and a $4.5 million video board was added in 2008.

In 2019, renovations to widen seats and provide other fan amenities reduced capacity to its current configuration of 80,126.

With the completion of this latest project, Sooner Nation will eventually have access to 47 suites, with 64 loge boxes providing seating to approximately 280 people. There will also be 4,000 new club seats, six club/lounge spaces for fans in the suites, loge and club seating.

A new stadium capacity figure hasn’t been calculated yet.

The project also includes an expanded new press box — which hasn’t been thoroughly updated in decades and lags well behind the rest of the Southeastern Conference — as well as “a new sideline-oriented sports lighting system and sound system enhancements.”

Major construction is expected to start immediately after the 2027 season, according to the regents’ agenda.

FlintCo has completed more than eight phases of construction at Memorial Stadium since 2002, with construction costs totaling more than $235 million.

Next week’s regents meeting will also include significant changes for OU baseball.

President Joe Harroz will recommend the board rename L. Dale Mitchell Park to Kimrey Family Stadium in honor of the Kimreys’ ongoing financial contributions.

Brian Kimrey and family, of Bartlesville, OK, have given major contributions to OU baseball since 2018, when they donated $250,000. Over the years, their support has exceeded $25 million to OU athletics, primarily football and baseball.

The latest donation of $15.1 million will “support the construction of a new clubhouse, premium seating enhancements and a modern performance center” for the athletes and will required approximately 55,000 square feet.

The agenda says OU baseball has “proudly carried the name of L. Dale Mitchell since 1979, honoring one of OU’s greatest baseball legends.

“In collaboration with the Mitchell Family, who have expressed their full support, the University is excited to usher in a new era” and will establish the L. Dale Mitchell Plaza” within the facility.

The OU naming committee approved the naming and recommended the new name to the board on Aug. 18, and the Kimrey Family Stadium name “will remain in effect for the lifetime of the facility,” per the documents.

Harroz will also rank construction candidates for expansion and renovations to the baseball stadium and authorize negotiations for a construction contract.

In March 2023, regents approved expansion and renovation of Mitchell Park at the cost of $45 million, and in September the board approved design developments at a projected budget of $3.3 million and a construction cost of $2.5 million. The project total is now estimated at $41.7 million.

The four Oklahoma City construction firms in the running are Manhattan Construction, Timberlake Construction, Ross Group and JE Dunn Construction.