Camp Randall will be getting a makeover, as the Madison City Council approved a $100 million renovation Jan. 8, planning to add 9,000 new seats and update the north, east and south sides of the stadium.
The plan to revamp the 85-year-old stadium includes 700 club and private seats. With the added cushions comes a strong commitment from UW to control traffic and crowd behavior in surrounding neighborhoods on game days.
Residents attending the meeting noted that provisions for the control of rowdy fans are a necessity.
“The fan behavior [of the ’70s] is now in our backyards,” said Dan Feeney, president of the Vilas Neighborhood Association.
Students who live in the Camp Randall area said fans leave evidence of game-day celebrations on the streets and in yards.
“It gets pretty nasty in the neighborhoods,” UW graduate student Dan Thies said. “There’s always a lot of trash lying around.”
Associate Athletic Director Al Fish said the athletic department has included the improvement of fan behavior in all discussions of renovation plans from the start.
“We spent countless hours with the different groups clarifying our plan,” Fish said.
With the approval of the project, UW promised to provide added police surveillance near the stadium and Regent Street and fund additional litter pickup, Fish said.
The university also plans to either support or provide a transportation service from Middleton, acquire parking facilities at the Alliant Center, use more UW parking facilities, consider covered bike parking to allow bicyclists to attend games and add an additional shuttle bus site.
Because projects of this magnitude usually encounter multiple hurdles, Fish said he was surprised at the ease with which this passed.
“We think it’s unusual with a project of this size for the neighborhoods to all register in support and for it to pass unanimously in the council,” Fish said.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said the renovation planning process closely resembled the manner in which the Kohl Center was planned. He said effective communication between the university and city allowed the renovation plans to pass easily in the council.
“A project of this magnitude, which will bring several thousand people into the neighborhood, would usually be more controversial,” Verveer said. “The university did a fantastic job in planning, specifically in going to city officials and affected neighborhoods early so that by the time the council approved the plan it was like a lovefest.”
Verveer said the university and city have worked well together over the last several years and the project will be a success.
“I see no reason why the cooperative planning will not yield awesome results,” Verveer said. “I am quite confident it will work out.”
