New Permanent LED Lighting to be Installed in Spartan Stadium

New Permanent LED Lighting to be 
Installed in Spartan Stadium

EAST LANSING - The noise you hear at Spartan Stadium isn't from the usual football fans cheering on the Spartan football team on Fall weekends.

This time, it's from construction workers working on the new renovation for the stadium, permanent LED lighting.

By the 2017 football season, the Michigan State University stadium will have those permanent lights installed, a project that is costing the university between $2.3 and $2.5 million.

The project comes from the new contract for the Big Ten Conference, requiring all schools that are part of the Big Ten to provide their own lights for games and broadcasts.

Spartan Stadium is one in only four other Big Ten schools that rents lights or that require broadcast channels to set up their own lights prior to games and events.

The new LED lights will aid these broadcast channels, help in the regular lighting of games, and will be friendlier to the environment, but MSU President LouAnna Simon said that the lights don't mean that there will be more night games.

Simon said that television broadcasts need lights for games at any time, such as the 3 p.m. and even noon ones.

The lights are also part of MSU Athletic Director Mark Hollis' new ideas for the stadium.

With an eight-game home winning streak, dating back to the 2014 season, Hollis said in a press conference in December that he wants Spartan stadium to be cozier and have more amenities.

Aside from the Big Ten contract requirements, such as the lights, Hollis said he might base other renovations on ideas from current NFL stadiums that are smaller but have more amenities in and around it.

The 92-year-old Spartan Stadium seats 75,005 fans, but renovations could lead to less seating for Spartan nation to purchase in the future, although no plans have been made.

If it does happen, buying tickets could become more competitive.

Raking 20th in the nation for the 2015 football season, MSU averaged 74,681 fans per game.

Some other new parts to the stadium include new locker rooms for teams, coaches and officials, a 3,600 square foot media center, and a 4,000 square foot engagement center for varsity sports.

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