After months of anticipation, the first steps in a multi-million dollar renovation project to the University of Rhode Island’s athletic facilities are finally underway.
A new $1 million video board at Meade Stadium, which is set to replace the existing scoreboard behind the south endzone, is nearing completion and expected to be operational for URI’s football game against North Carolina A&T on Nov. 11, according to URI Sports Multimedia Coordinator Dave Walzer.
The scoreboard is the first step in a $82.3 million plan to completely renovate URI’s existing facilities that were in “desperate need of repair,” according to URI Athletic Director Thorr Bjorn. The project will include replacement of the east stands and press box area at Meade Stadium, a brand new track and field facility, renovations to the Tootell Aquatic Center, as well as necessary upgrades to the baseball, softball and soccer fields. The additions will provide the fields with much-needed upgraded restroom facilities, press boxes, stands and field repairs, among other things.
“We are going full steam ahead on Meade Stadium,” Bjorn said. “There’s a budget of $42 million. We’re gonna tear down the east stands.”
The plan for the new stadium, which is the University’s top priority, includes a capacity of around 6,000 seats, including a new press box that can “truly handle a Division I FCS program,” according to Bjorn. The press box will include accessible restrooms, adequate space for scoreboard operation facilities, coaches’ operations, media access and a new, separate locker room for the women’s lacrosse program that is expected to begin play at Meade in 2025.
With the University currently out to bid for a contractor to plan, design and complete the project, construction could begin as soon as 2025, according to Bjorn. While the football and lacrosse teams would more than likely be forced to find a temporary home for at least one season, fans might be able to anticipate a homecoming to their new stadium as soon as fall 2026.
In a process that began in summer 2022, URI President Marc Parlange first approached the Rhode Island State House citing a need for facility upgrades, according to Bjorn. After bringing multiple members of the State House and Senate to the facilities during the spring to tour the fields in disrepair, URI Athletics was eventually allocated $65.84 million in Rhode Island Capital Asset Protection money by the state, 80% of their initial ask and around 30% more than the initial budget recommendation from Gov. Dan McKee earlier in the year. The RICAP funds will be paid in three installments over three years in accordance with expected construction timelines.
The remaining RICAP money will be used to install a $12.1 million, nine-lane outdoor track and field facility and make necessary internal repairs to the pool and natatorium, according to Bjorn. The track will replace a decades-old facility that has not hosted official competition since 1981, having decayed into nothing more than a patchy, cracked concrete oval.
The remaining $16.4 million required to complete the projects will have to be raised through fundraising efforts, which Bjorn said will begin in the next “two or three months.” The remaining money would fill the final 20% of the $82.3 million total project budget, and would allow for the remaining renovations of the baseball, softball and soccer fields. Bjorn emphasized that while there is still money to be raised, there is no question about the state money already given to the University, and the project will continue to move forward as planned.
While fans will have to wait at least three years to see the beginning of any long-term changes to Meade, they can look forward to enjoying the video scoreboard in the near future, which will come complete with fully staffed control room, broadcast camera access with instant replay features and a brand new public address speaker system for the final portion of the 2023 season and beyond, according to Walzer.
For Bjorn, who’s 17-year tenure as athletic director began when Meade Stadium’s field featured a patchy grass field and no lights, the budget allocation was an unprecedented move from the state, and represented a huge step forward in the right direction.
“[I feel] incredible pride, incredible gratitude,” Bjorn said. “I’m not sure I’ve ever had a prouder moment in terms of the entire state coming together to say, ‘This is important, and we’re gonna do it.’… The state of Rhode Island said ‘we’re giving you RICAP dollars, not bond dollars, to fix these facilities that are in desperate need of repair.’ That’s never happened before.”
With the overwhelming support on show between the state and their flagship university, the plan for a desperately-needed facility upgrade is closer than it’s ever been before, and it is only a matter of time before ground breaks on a new chapter in URI athletics.