June 9, 2006
- Read about Iowa’s 2006 recruiting class
- Follow the renovation of Kinnick Stadium
- The Schedule: 2006 and beyond
Fans of the nationally ranked University of Iowa football team will be greeted by more than a handful of new and exciting things when the gates to historic Kinnick Stadium open Saturday, Sept. 2, for the 2006 home opener against Montana, the first event to be staged in the 76-year-old facility after completion of the two-year, multi-million dollar renovation of the UI’s prized game-day home of the Hawkeyes.
There will be the new south grandstand, the new scoreboards, the new videowalls, the new sound system, the new concessions stands and restrooms in the east and west concourses, the new Krause Family Plaza, the statue of Heisman Award-winner Nile Kinnick, and, of course, the new press box and its variety of premium seating opportunities and amenities.
There will also be a new flag protocol on the Stadium’s south façade that staff of the UI Department of Intercollegiate Athletics hope will be both colorful and informational. Here’s how it will work:
On Sunday prior to each game-day Saturday, on the flag pole immediately west of the western-most edge of the main scoreboard, one of two flags will fly: If the Hawkeyes play at Kinnick Stadium the following Saturday, a black flag with gold letters that spell “IOWA” will sit atop the flag pole. The black color matches the black jerseys worn by the team when it is playing a home game.
If the Hawkeyes’ next game is an away game, a gold flag with black letters that spell “IOWA” will be flown.
On Sunday prior to each game-day Saturday, on the flag pole immediately east of the eastern-most edge of the stadium’s main scoreboard, a flag in the colors of the Iowa’s opponent will fly. That flag will also include the name of the opponent.
“It’s the consensus of our staff that this is an easy and effective way to remind fans of the Hawkeyes just where and who the team plays next,” said Rick Klatt, the UI’s associate athletic director for external affairs.
Klatt said the UI will continue to fly the flag of the United States of America on the flag pole at the center of the east grandstand. To its immediate north and south will be the official flag of the State of Iowa and a flag representative of the Big Ten Conference. All other flags flown at the top of the east grandstand and the top of the south grandstand will be black or gold.
Work on the renovation continues at a feverish pace. Among the notable and noticeable is the pouring of new concrete immediately east of the stadium, the sealing of the concrete of the east grandstand and the start of that process in the north end of the west grandstand, detail work inside the new restrooms and new concessions stands in the east and west concourse, and myriad of progress inside the new press box.
“It was important to have the exterior glass on the western wall of the press box completed during the first week of June and that was accomplished,” said Jane Meyer, the UI’s senior associate athletics director and the point person on the project for the UI Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Click HERE to view the latest additions to the photo gallery inside kinnickrenovation.com, the official world wide web site of the $89 million renovation of the prized home of the UI’s football program.