GREEN & WHITE FOOTBALL

Spartan Stadium to get lights for 2017 football season

Athletic director Mark Hollis, coaches Tom Izzo, Suzy Merchant, Tom Anastos get contract extensions

Chris Solari
Lansing State Journal
MSU takes on Notre Dame under portable lights in 2012. The school's Board of Trustees approved permanent lighting for Spartan Stadium, which is expected to be ready for the 2017 season.

EAST LANSING – There will be a new glow around Spartan Stadium. Permanently.

Michigan State University’s Board of Trustees on Wednesday unanimously approved permanent lights for the 93-year-old football stadium.

Greg Ianni, MSU’s deputy athletic director, said the project will cost between $2.2 and $2.5 million. The goal is to get final approval from the board at its September meeting, break ground in December and have the LED lighting system ready for the Spartans’ 2017 football season.

Additional revenue from Big Ten television contracts is expected to cover the the lighting project’s costs, which will come out of the MSU athletic department’s budget and not general funds, President Lou Anna K. Simon said.

Television networks currently pay for temporary lights to be brought in for late kickoffs at $60,000 to $65,000 per game, but Ianni said those contractual provisions expire in 2017. Schools will be required to pay for portable systems after this season.

MSU is one of three schools in the Big Ten without permanent lights. The others are Northwestern and Purdue. Iowa installed permanent towers at Kinnick Stadium prior to the 2015 season.

“It was done that way because 10 of the 14 institutions had lights, and we run in a democracy,” Simon said of the Big Ten’s new contract. “And in a democracy, you essentially have to make some decisions.”

High-efficiency LED lights, similar to the ones installed in recent years at Breslin Center and Munn Arena, will be placed around the football field. They will be placed atop the west tower press box, and two poles will be erected on the northeast and southeast corners of the stadium.

Spartan Stadium has hosted 18 night games in its history, the first in 1987. MSU is 9-3 in the 12 night games there during Mark Dantonio’s first nine seasons as head coach, including a win over Oregon in the Spartans’ only home night game last season.

However, portable lights have been used for more than just night-time kickoffs. The school typically brought them in for 3:30 p.m. kickoffs, especially later in the fall when it gets darker earlier.

“It’s not about night games,” Simon said, “it’s about having lights.”

High-definition video screens were installed at Spartan Stadium prior to the 2012 season.

The Board also approved contract extensions of athletic director Mark Hollis through the 2020-21 school year and three of his major-sport coaches – men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo (2022-23), women’s basketball coach Suzy Merchant (2020-21) and hockey coach Tom Anastos (2019-20). Simon said football coach Mark Dantonio's contract rolled over earlier this year.

“Each contract has embedded in it a buyout provision, so those are unaffected in most cases by these rollovers,” Simon said. “But we have a great set of coaches. It signals to people that we intend to keep them for a long time.”

In other items, the Board approved new turf for Ralph Young Field. Ianni said the current turf was installed in 2002 and has outlived its nine-year expectancy. Those costs also will come out of the athletic department budget, Simon said.