Iowa AD: North end zone could include patio areas

CHICAGO - Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta described the potential for different types of luxury seating for Kinnick Stadium's north end zone Thursday at Big Ten Media Days.

In paperwork filed with the state Board of Regents, the athletics department labeled the cramped section 'functionally obsolete.” Barta and the department are requesting permission to proceed with a renovation costing between $35 million and $45 million. Regents meet next week.

'When we renovated (Kinnick Stadium) in '06, everything up until that point was renovated (at the same time),” Barta said. 'The portion that I'm focused on right now was last done in 1983. Now taking that portion, seeing what we have to do to update it, but while we're doing it, let's make sure the fan experience is taken care of, too, whether that's patio areas, patio clubs, suites. All of that will be part of it if we get permission to proceed.

'There's all sorts of levels of premium seating. It's not predisposed what we're going to put there.”

Barta declined to address specifics with the renovation because it's undetermined how it will unfold in the planning process.

'Until I get clearance from the Board of Regents to sit down and study it, it's hard to say,” he said. 'I think if it's possible, I'd love to stay over 70,000 because I think that's a good size for us. Beyond that, we'd love to engage a lot of people who have been working on Kinnick Stadium before because they know our footprint, they know what our stadium has and doesn't have.”

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