Autzen
continued from page 1
years. Clemmer said he enjoys the
work because of the mental and
physical challenge. He said the “how
you gonna get this done?” dilemma
keeps his job fresh and exciting.
But after spending a majority of
his career working on heating, ven
tilation and air conditioning, the
42-year-old decided to make a
change. Two years ago, a fire de
stroyed Clemmer’s Albany home.
Forced to start over, Clemmer, his
wife and his two young children
moved to Eugene.
“It’s like a new beginning for us,”
he said.
And after getting a union appren
ticeship with JKG Electric, Clem
mer now finds himself laying wire
inside Autzen, which, in a way, is
getting a new beginning of its own.
“They’re in a big rush to get done,”
Clemmer said of the construction
process. “They’re cramming three
years worth of work into a year.”
Building a better nest
For the past seven months, con
struction crews of Hunt-Wildish
Joint Venture have been working al
Adam Jones Emerald
At a cost of $100,000, Autzen Stadium has been outfitted with custom artificial turf.
most around-the-clock in hopes of
renovating the stadium by Aug. 15,
two weeks prior to the Aug. 31 sea
son opener against Mississippi State.
The crew of about 350 has been
working long shifts over the past
month, with some working seven
days a week, project administrator
John Norton said.
For many months a crane stood
in the parking lot, demolishing and
reconstructing half of the stadium.
Come rain or shine, workers tore
down the tattered home of the
Ducks with the vision of a grand,
luxurious complex.
With the erection of the structure
complete, only aesthetic proce
dures now remain, Norton said.
Over the next month, final touches
will be made to Autzen’s paint, tile,
carpets, seats and the stadium’s
playing field.,
The stadium will be football
ready by Aug. 15, but Norton said
the project might not be complete
until season’s end. Autzen’s new
suites won’t be ready for use at the
beginning of the season, so con
struction will continue between
home games.
The majority of construction has
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focused on the south side of the sta
dium, which has been greatly ex
panded, adding some 12,000 seats
and pushing Autzen’s capacity to
between 54,000 and 55,000, Athlet
ic Department Media Services Di
rector David Williford said.
But the project, costing about $90
million, is more than an expansion.
It’s a renovation as well, Williford
said. Aside from increasing its ca
pacity, the project will also add 32
luxury skyboxes and a club room
for suite holders.
Autzen’s new south side will
tower over the older, virtually un
touched north end, one that is typi
cally filled with University stu
dents who co-exist as unruly,
die-hard Duck fans for a majority of
Saturdays in the fall.
Losing a piece of the pie
In prior years, 6,098 tickets were
allotted to students for games dur
ing the school session. For most
regular season games, students
were given approximately 14 per
cent of the total tickets.
This season, the number of stu
dent tickets will go up to 6,150. But
the capacity at Autzen is expected to
be about 54,500, meaning students
will receive only slightly more than
11 percent of the ticket share in 2002.
Williford said the only way stu
dents could expect to see an in
crease in tickets is through annual
negotiations between ASUO and
the Athletic Department. Further
more, Williford said, ASUO offi
cials would have to prove to the de
partment that there is constant
student demand on a game-by-game
basis to warrant such changes.
And even if successful, such a
change wouldn’t be cheap.
Last year, students paid about
$500 per year in incidental fees,
meaning ASUO officials had
about $9 million to work with for
the entire year. For the 2001-02
season, students’ incidental fees
paid for about 29,500 football tick
ets and about 38,300 basketball
tickets. The price tag came in at
more than $1 million.
For additional seating, Williford
said, ASUO would have to invest
more money. Currently, students
are already given tickets at a price
“below fair market” value, Willi
ford said.
A reserved seat for a basketball
game last season cost $18. During
the football season, reserved seats
cost $29, except for the Wisconsin
and Oregon State games, which
each cost $42. This past year, had
all seats been sold at those prices,
football ticket sales would have in
creased by almost $970,000 and
basketball ticket sales would have
jumped by almost $690,000. The
Athletic Department could have, in
theory, received about $570,000
more in revenues had students
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Despite these numbers, ASUO
accounting coordinator Jennifer
Creighton-Neiwert said she expects
to see an increase in student tickets
for the 2003-04 school year.
“We’re at least going to have an
other 1,000 (in 2003-04),”
Creighton-Neiwert said.
That increase would have hap
pened this year, she added, had the
fate of the expansion been known
during winter negotiations.
But with enrollment at the Uni
versity expected to surpass the
20,000 threshold this year, more
and more students may be left
standing in line, fighting to grab
tickets that are available to less than
one-third of the student body.
Nevertheless, come football sea
son, “Mighty Oregon” will blare at
full volume, filling the Eugene air
like pollen on a warm, sunny day.
The players, ready to capitalize on
the success of last season’s No. 2
ranking and eager to prove they can
be successful yet again, will storm
the field. And the lucky 6,150 stu
dents, clad in yellow and green,
will rise, screaming until they can
speak no longer.
Say what?
Autzen already has a reputation
as one of the loudest, most difficult
places for opposing teams to play,
and the renovation should only im
prove the atmosphere for the
Ducks. Oregon posted 23 consecu
tive home victories from 1997
through 2001 and hopes to contin
ue its current streak, taking two
consecutive home victories into the
upcoming season.
The stadium may be losing its
appearance as a cavernous field
carved in dirt and rock, but it
should be just as loud — if not
louder — according to University
graduate and professional engi
neer Art Noxon. The concrete
bowl should be enough to trap in
the screams of fans, Noxon ex
plained, even without dirt sur
rounding the complex.
“If you have more people
screaming, generally speaking, it’s
going to be louder,” said Noxon,
owner of Acoustic Sciences Corpo
ration, a business that has consult
ed with musicians such as Michael
Jackson, Sting and Jennifer Lopez.
But, he added, “you can only shout
so loud.”
When comparing Autzen Stadi
um’s previous attendance to its cur
rent capacity, Noxon said he ex
pects on-the-field noise levels to
rise by one decibel. When fans yell
at the top of their lungs, he added,
they aren’t trying to be intelligible,
but are trying to disrupt effective
team communication on the field.
So will that one decibel made by
screaming fans make any difference
when it comes to reaping havoc on
opposing teams?
“It could be, yes,” Noxon said.
“One decibel isn’t that much louder,
but it is significant. It might be the
one that pushes it over the limit.”
Contact the sports editor
at bradschmidt@dailyemerald.com.
sue
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