USU announces $1 Million gift to help fund renovations to Romney Stadium

Utah State football vs. Utah

LOGAN, Utah – Utah State University Vice President and Director of Athletics Scott Barnes announced Tuesday a gift of $1 million from Charlie and Trina Denson to help fund renovations to Romney Stadium.

Denson, Chairman of Teneo Sports and former President of Nike Inc., is a 1978 Utah State University Alumnus and a two-year Aggie football letterwinner. He also serves on the National Advisory Board for Aggie Athletics.

“For me, it was football and the athletic department that got me to Utah State,” said Denson. “It was certainly my experiences both on the playing field as well as in the classroom, graduating from the school of business, that enabled me to pursue a career in my two passions, which were business and sports. In the end, it resulted in me becoming the President of the Nike brand.”

“I’m fortunate to be able to give back to the institution that was such an important part of my success, and I look forward to the future as Utah State continues to be recognized for it’s contribution to higher education,” added Denson.

“Charlie has been a great friend to our university and athletic program,” said Barnes. “His efforts at Nike in leading our rebranding initiative was a huge step for our entire athletic enterprise. The launching of the Romney Stadium renovation is the largest undertaking in the history of Aggie athletics so Charlie and Trina’s commitment comes at an important time. The fact that Charlie wore the Aggie blue and white as a former football student-athlete makes this commitment especially gratifying.”

Of the $1 million donation, $750,000 will go directly to Romney Stadium renovations, while $250,000 will go to the Huntsman School of Business and will be used to name the Charlie and Trina Denson Classroom in Huntsman Hall.

“The support Charlie and Trina have provided for Huntsman Hall is just so typical of who they are,” said Douglas D. Anderson, Dean, Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. “Charlie has been a great example for our students through the years and has been so generous with his time and sharing his experiences at Nike and how our students can also dare mighty things. We are truly grateful for their generosity.”

Renovations to Romney stadium will focus on greatly improving the overall fan experience. On the west side, a new four-story premium seating and press box structure will be built to include a state-of-the-art media and game operations area, 24 luxury suites, 24 loge boxes, over 700 covered club seats and a premium club area that will also be used to host a student-athlete training table. Major concourse work will include significantly increased restrooms, upgraded concessions, and an enlarged concourse for better pedestrian traffic flow. Improvements on the east will include additional seating and restroom facilities.

Renovations will also include new video boards on both the north and south ends of Romney Stadium, along with a new public address system. The additional expansion of Romney Stadium’s seating capacity is also planned for the future.

Romney Stadium was originally built in 1968 and has largely gone without any upgrades to the existing structures during its 47-year existence as the seating capacity has been altered twice; once in 1980 with the addition of approximately 10,000 seats to the south bowl, and again in 1997 as roughly 4,000 chair back seats were installed to bring the present capacity to 25,513.

In 2005, the south end zone area of Romney Stadium was renovated, providing improved concessions and restroom facilities as well as a widened concourse on the east side of the stadium. And in 2008, the three-story, 69,000 square foot Jim and Carol Laub Athletics-Academics Complex was completed in the north end zone, providing enhanced athletic and academic needs for all 16 of USU’s varsity sports.

For more information on the renovations to Romney Stadium or to pledge a gift, contact the USU Athletics Department at (435) 797-1850.

-USU-

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Posted in USU