While still a work in progress, Kyle Field will look completely different to Texas A&M fans Saturday, particularly to students who will experience many of the “Phase One” renovations firsthand. Though the renovations will not be complete until 2015, the west side has been completely redone, the south side bowled in and the largest video board in college football added.
With a capacity of 106,000 people, Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp said during media availability Thursday he expects Aggies to be “wowed” when they see the changes.
“We’re going to have the best venue, the best food — before it’s over with next year it’ll be the smartest stadium,” Sharp said. “There’s not going to be anything around here even close to this.”
New features that have been added to the stadium include redesigned concession stands, “Cool Zones” with air conditioning for fans to escape the heat, luxury suites and new restrooms with a 300-percent increase in women’s bathrooms.
Despite such extensive work being done, Phillip Ray, chief business development officer of the Texas A&M University System, said there have been no delays in the process and that everything has remained on schedule.
“We think we have assembled the finest construction team on planet earth,” Ray said. “Manhattan-Vaughn, Populous Architects and all of our partners have done a tremendous job. All we’re doing is putting on the final touches. Certainly there’ll be a punch list, but that’s to be expected when you’re halfway through a project.”
A&M is working with IBM to revamp the stadium’s digital infrastructure, and ultimately the system will be capable of hosting 100,000 concurrent Wi-Fi users. The cellular system will also be improved, increasing phone usability and fan access to information.
“This is the first [system] ever to be installed at this level and this capacity,” said Todd Christner, IBM business development executive. “IBM is happy to be partnered with Texas A&M, and the Corning ONE mobile solution is a phenomenal solution that IBM is basing their fiber network on and putting our software application on top of that.”
“Phase Two” of the Kyle Field renovations will be finalized in 2015, reducing the capacity by 4,000, though it will remain the largest stadium in the SEC.
“This is going to be the No. 1 sports venue in the United States,” Sharp said. “I think the size of the stadium is going to be so much different than what it was before. It’ll be the best in the country.”