Throwback Team Thursday: Groundbreaking for Spanos Stadium
9/17/2020 11:58:00 AM | Football, General
EDITOR'S NOTE: Each Thursday from September through mid-December, Cal Poly Athletics will revisit a notable program from the department's history in the Throwback Team Thursday series presented by CalPortland.SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Fifteen years ago, a groundbreaking ceremony was held to mark the beginning of a project to expand Alex G. Spanos Stadium, home of Cal Poly's football and men's and women's soccer teams.
What once was a set of wooden bleachers and press box condemned in the 1990s, followed by rented bleachers and a press box on top of scaffolding, ultimately would be replaced by a gleaming $21.4 million facility that included expanded seating, new lights, press box and restrooms, coaches booths, a president's suite and eight donor suites, and Mustang Memorial Plaza.
The renovation of Alex G. Spanos Stadium is this week's Throwback Team Thursday presented by CalPortland.
On Sept. 10, 2005, Cal Poly officials and key donors gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony near where the north elevator tower is located. That evening, Cal Poly defeated Sacramento State 37-13 in its home opener and went on to post a 9-4 overall record, reaching the second round of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
In 2005 and 2006, seating capacity was reduced to about 6,000 seats, all on the east side of the stadium. Fans were allowed to sit on the west side and in the donor suites for the 2006 season finale, a 55-0 rout of Savannah State, but the press box was not ready for use.
On that day, a dedication ceremony was held on the field with members of the Spanos family in attendance. Alex and Faye Spanos donated $8 million toward the project.
Although many football games were played on the field presently occupied by Alex G. Spanos Stadium since the first game was held in 1905 -- club and intramural teams played from 1905 through 1914 before the first official game with a paid head coach was held in 1915 -- Mustang Stadium was not built until 1935 and the first press box was added in 1938.
Major renovations were undertaken in 1955 (new metal stands on the east side), 1972 (additional seats on the east side) and 1978 (more east side seats) and the capacity stood at about 8,500 until 2006 with the project on the west side. Permanent bleachers in the south end zone, added in 2015, lifted the capacity to its present total of 11,075.
The 2006 project added 3,480 seats over California Boulevard, including 888 chairback seats, along with widening and other improvements to the field itself, a new press box with booths for two radio stations and one television crew, restrooms on the the concourse and press box levels and new lighting and sound systems.
A $1 million videoboard/scoreboard was installed prior to the 2009 season.
Cal Poly has sold out Alex G. Spanos Stadium for football games nine times while the men's soccer series versus UC Santa Barbara has produced 10 sellouts of 11,075 fans.
Since the 2007 football season opener, Cal Poly has compiled a 44-26 win-loss record inside Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
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