Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/145833
most more than I've experienced with anything we've done that represents a change of any kind of magnitude," Swarbrick said. "I think people have embraced it because it speaks so much to Notre Dame and its values." The school used examples like the Green Bay Packers' Lambeau Field and Florida State's Doak Campbell Stadium in 1997 when the school added 21,000 seats in an outer bowl to push the overall capacity to 80,795. "I think it's important to reconnect with Rockne's vision. He didn't build a traditional stadium," Swarbrick said. "He built a state-of-the-art stadium. We want to honor the tradition of what he built while also honoring the intention Swarbrick oversaw vast upheaval last year in collegiate sports and at his alma mater. This year much of his concentration will center on continuing to upgrade the athletics department's infrastructure, especially the facilities. photo By JOE RAYMOND to learn how they involved community and academics to their football facilities during the year. Swarbrick said he hopes to turn Notre Dame Stadium into a place that outdoes both those sites and any others in the country in terms of the amount of use they get out of the space. The only previous major changes to the stadium, originally designed by head coach Knute Rockne in 1930, came of what he did, which was to build the best facility in the country." The exact details and budget of the project (two elements that might sully the uniformly positive reaction) won't be clear until the university completes its months-long assessment to determine exactly what is feasible inside the new space. Swarbrick said that study should be finished by the middle of autumn, at which time the athletic depart-