CSU Board Backs Raising Money For Stadium

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4/AP) — Colorado State University has been cleared to start raising money for a new football stadium on campus.

CSU's board of governors voted Thursday to back president Tony Frank's recommendation to move ahead with fundraising. The plan includes a new stadium on the south side of campus to replace Hughes Stadium on the west side of Fort Collins.

The campaign would be suspended if a viable financing plan can't be found within two years.

More than a dozen people asked the board to reject the proposal before the vote. No one in the audience spoke in favor of it.

"I'm not hearing a heated argument, I am hearing heated agreement that this must not happen!" said Fort Collins resident Jean Yule. "This proposal has caused a large divide in the Fort Collins and CSU communities and will not be resolved by pursuing and pushing this forward."

CSU has been examining since February whether replacing the aging, off-campus Hughes Stadium is feasible. Consultants hired by the school and by opponents of a new stadium have disagreed about how much revenue would be generated by a new on-campus facility, whose costs are estimated at about $246 million.

Frank told the board the stadium is all about looking towards the future of the university.

"To me the most important lens that we have as the trustees of this institution is the lens of the future," said Frank.

Frank was also adamant that no student tuition fees or taxpayer money be used to fund the stadium.

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