In the wake of the announcement of a football stadium likely coming to Main Campus, and in our role as journalists covering the university, we have a lot of questions.
We’re not alone.
The stadium, which would seat 35,000 on the northwest corner of Main Campus, currently occupied by Geasey Field, will be funded through a mix of state and university money and require some borrowing, the Inquirer reported Saturday.
“I’m optimistic,” President Theobald said in the article, but we hope he’s also being realistic. While our football team is having an uncharacteristic winning start, we have speculations about the effect the stadium could have on the surrounding community.
The current uncertainties leave us wondering if the impact may even be larger than the footprint of the stadium. Parking and tailgating, a part of college football as much as the actual game, is currently in limbo in the plans, along with how the university would handle the general chaos of hosting a game as large as Saturday’s sold-out match-up against Notre Dame right on campus—right next to homes, parks and George Washington Carver High School.
We realize the university is rising in both academic and athletic rankings, and we celebrate that. What sets us apart as a university, though, is how ingrained in the city we are, and that includes being ingrained in our community.
We hope as the university goes forward with the planning and construction of this stadium, they think of ways to minimize its impact on the surrounding neighborhoods.
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