A&M-commerce to debut new Memorial Stadium for Lions football season

While the A&M-Commerce football players have been preparing themselves for the new season, construction crews have been adding the final touches to a renovated Memorial Stadium. The renovations include new east-side bleachers, a new concession stand on the east side, and a new, $650 thousand scoreboard equipped with a video board.

"I think just having another side definitely enhances the game experience," Athletic Director Carlton Cooper said. "Just looking across to the other side and seeing other fans, the lights, the video board, it's going to tie everything together."

With the new stands, the stadium can house up to 13,000 fans. Both sides now also include stadium seating in the middle sections. Cooper said the seats were added to further increase the game experience.

"It's our university stadium, so you want it to be a nice venue," he said. "Our plan is to host other events in there. At that time, it's a neutral venue and you want it nice for both sides."

The construction project began last semester, and has gone smoothly for the most part, according to Cooper.

"Right now, it is on time," Cooper said. "We've had daily conversations about everything. I'm sure they'll be some last minute hiccups. The scoreboard is set to be ready on Sept. 2 for a dry run."

It appears the most difficult task was getting the scoreboard up, according to Cooper. He said the first team to benefit from it will be Commerce High School should everything work out.

"Was it a bit stressful early on? Yes, it was," he said. "Did we miss some deadlines? Yeah, but they delivered on their promise. They said it'd be ready Sept. 2."

Cooper also said the new addition of a video board can create a new dimension of entertainment for fans and players alike.

"The video board's going to allow us to have more interactive things with the crowd," he said. "It changes the game experience for players as well. You'll have some players who aren't in the game and a very exciting play happens, and they'll look up on the video board."

The entire cost of the scoreboard is to be paid by advertising, according to Cooper. Spaces are allocated on the board for different companies to advertise during games.

"We've got enough to take care of it, and we're having more people call us," he said. "There will be some blank spots on there, but the most important spots are taken care of."

According to head coach Guy Morriss, the players and coaches are excited about the new-look Memorial Stadium.

"It looks like a small-college football stadium," he said. "We're pleased with the way it turned out and excited to start playing in it. It's taken a long time to get here."

Morriss said he likes the idea of hosting high profile high school games, and he also said A&M-Commerce has already been contacted by interested parties.

"I think that's good any time we can get those types of student athletes on our campus," he said. "That's a plus for us, and that'll certainly be the case once everybody finds out we've got a visitor's side now."

Cooper admitted there was talk about eventually switching the current home section to the new bleachers, but he said that would not be happening anytime soon. However, fans of Commerce Tigers will be in the new seats.

"Right now, we're going to stay where we are," he said. "It's the best place for us."

Morriss has his own idea about what to put in the new stands.

"What I'd like to do is talk about putting our band behind their bench, maybe a couple of student section over there," he said. "When you go to College Station, that's where the chore is and where the band is, they raise holy heck, and it's a distraction. I've been down there twice as the head coach of Baylor. That's kind of what I had in mind."

New lights and newly laid rubber in the synthetic turf complete the current renovations. Cooper said smaller additions will be added at a later date.

"There are still some things we're working on, some cosmetic things to tie it all together," he said. "That'll be work in progress. They're not necessarily things that needed to be there before we played our first game."