After receiving an anonymous donation towards the Reser Stadium Project, Oregon State University is now looking ahead into our future of athletics and our university students, faculty, and staff. 

The brand new renovation of the west side of Reser Stadium is apart of a $153 million project is set to provide our Corvallis community with one of the most recently-renovated football stadiums in the nation. 

The plans of the Reser Stadium Project are to create a 360-degree concourse around the stadium which will provide fans and occupants more food options and more importantly, a greater number of restrooms. In the past, Reser Stadium has quite literally been one-sided in its efforts to provide concessions, with all stands and facilities being located on the east side of the stadium,

On the west side, other than an abundance of old and used bleacher seating, Reser Stadium’s second half remains mostly empty. With more luxury suites on the west of the stadium, chairs with backs to them and overall seating, the large-scale remodel seems to be the final touches to the Reser Stadium plan which started in 1965 after Oregon State made it to the Rose Bowl. 

The university began increasing the capacity of the stadium after that bowl game win over half a century ago, expanding gradually throughout the years, with the last major renovation coming on the east side of the stadium in 2005.

Even without a bowl appearance like that 1965 team, wins like the one against the 15th ranked-rival Oregon Ducks shows the potential of the team, and that they might have what it takes to play like the type of program that can make deep postseason runs in the coming years.

The program will hope that this new stadium renovation provides more than a boost in outward appearance, however. College football programs such as Texas A&M, Notre Dame and Tennessee that have plans for recent major renovations have consistently managed recruiting classes that rank within the top 25 in the country via 247Sports, while Oregon State has missed out on the top 50 every season since 2018, Jonathan Smith’s arrival as the Beavers’ head coach.

As a recruit comes to visit Oregon State and meet all the faculty and staff on the team, the hope will be that the stadium shows that the team and school are heading in a new direction, and that committing to Oregon State can be more exciting for young players now than ever before.

Statistically speaking, in the NFL, there have been 12 teams that have received new stadiums since 2000. What seems to occur with these teams is that they tend to succeed, by a lot. Since 2000, those same 12 teams have made 44 playoff appearances and have gone 5-7 in the Super Bowl. 

A coincidence, potentially, but one that could provide a sense of optimism towards the team’s future in the PAC-12.