Sport venuesDHS advises Michigan State U on football stadium safety
By all accounts, Michigan State University’s basketball team has been doing better over the years than the school’s football team (just think Magic Johnson). The university wants to raise the profile of its football team, and is building a new, $24 million stadium — but DHS advised the university that the stadium’s north side stands are too close to the gas tanks and pumps which serve the school’s motor pool. The university is now moving the gas tanks to a new location.
Michigan State University (MSU) athletic director Mark Hollis told reporters on Wednesday that DHS assisted in changes to the North side of Spartan Stadium, the football team’s new stadium.
Mlive.comreports that DHS advised the university that having gas tanks and pumps within a motor pool used to service campus vehiclesright next to the North end of the stadium, posed a significant security risk. As a result, Hollis spent $1.5 million in athletic department funds to have the pool and the tanks removed.
MSU Transportation Services director Roy Simon will now find a new spot for the tanks and pool.
“That was the most important thing about all of this,” Hollis told Mlive.com, “getting those gas tanks out of the Northeast quadrant.
“I think 9-11 was the first time when we said, ‘we have an issue here,’ and then Homeland Security came in about a year ago and re-identified that as a critical issue and President (Lou Anna) Simon put it on a list,” Hollis added.
The university has raised $14 million for the building of the stadium, and another $10 million will come from operational income.
The area will now become a common space area for fans to hang out before, during, and after games.
“The stadium was kind of out in farm land when it was first built, so they put the motor pool there, which made sense at the time,” Hollis said. “Over the years, there was just never an initiative to get it out. It was a gas tank for all of the (university) vehicles on campus, there’s a car wash in the stadium, and oil bays.
“Motor Pool could operate comfortably there for years to come, but it was not the best place to have it for seven Saturdays.”
The stadium, which is still under construction, could get the final approval from the MSU Board of Trustees next month and could be finished next May.
