Purdue continues to put all that Big Ten money to work giving their football program all the resources it needs to compete for division and conference titles.
At a board meeting on Friday, the school’s Board of Trustees announced they have approved renovation plans for Ross-Ade Stadium that will see some significant improvements for the venue take place as soon as this upcoming offseason.
Long term, the Boilermakers will look to put the hammer and nails to a rather hefty makeover that will include a complete replacement of the stadium’s upper bowl, additional upgrades to the pavilion level and construction of an entirely new building along the south end zone area. The Journal & Courier reports that the entire project have a price tag as high as $120 million.
While the entire project will take several years to finish up, things will get started after the 2019 season wraps up against in-state rival Indiana. The first phase will include a new video board that is both larger and closer to the field than the current setup and an expected completion date of sometime in the summer of 2020.
As you could expect from such a big project, the school needs somebody to oversee things and took a step in that direction by also voting to extend athletic director Mike Bobinski’s contract for another three years. The Purdue Exponent notes this also comes with a base salary raise to $750,000 per year with annual raises and some six-figures worth of potential incentives.
Given that the school is already making their football coach one of the highest paid in the country, it’s probably not too surprising that this latest bit of news shows that Boilermakers are making sure they don’t lag in any other areas either.