After more than a year of renovations, the Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium is entering its final stages of construction with projected completion in March 2017.
The remainder of the project will include the coaches’ offices, locker rooms, a conference room and a grand lobby, said Jim White, the senior superintendent for the project.
A strength and conditioning performance center and sports medicine facility are also in the works for the March deadline. Both facilities are more than double their previous sizes and will be utilized by all OU student athletes, Larry Naifeh executive associative athletics director, said.
“I know everybody sees the stadium and they love it and it’s fantastic, and it is outstanding for the six games we’ve played, but these facilities are going to be used every single day by all of our kids,” Naifeh said.
The new conference room will include theater-style seating for up to 204 people, White said. The grand lobby, which will be called the Legends Lobby, will serve as a memorial to OU football history, housing the university's National Championship, Heisman and Big 12 trophies, among other memorabilia.
Construction began the summer of 2015 with a goal of front-of-house completion by the start of the 2016 football season. This goal included completed seats, the new scoreboard, concessions, restrooms, and clubs and suites, White said.
These gameday essentials were completed for the Sooners' first home game Sept. 10, 2016.
Plans to renovate the stadium were originally announced in the summer of 2014 as a $360 million project. However, amidst the state's oil crisis, the school scaled back the plans to cost $160 million.
