Marshall athletics: Marshall to begin capital projects for new stadium lights, indoor turf

HUNTINGTON -- Along with the approval of its 2026-27 budget on Wednesday, Marshall University's athletics committee meeting delved into a pair of new capital projects to upgrade facilities. Joan C. Edwards Stadium will receive new stadium lights while the Chris Cline Athletic Complex will get new indoor turf. "After talking about how we're going to save money, let's talk about how we're going to spend some more," Marshall athletic director Gerald Harrison joked during the presentation.

Both projects will be privately funded. There is an expectation that lights will be installed before the first home game of the 2026 football season, Sept. 12 against Middle Tennessee State, but an official timetable has not been set. "Once it's all approved, we'll make an official announcement.

The goal is to have it done before the first home game of the season, a night game," Harrison said. The biggest motivation for both projects is general safety and facility maintenance. Harrison said the turf needs updated more often due to its heavy use while the company that reviews the lights deemed them beyond repair. "This is something people think you do for fanciness.

I'm still dizzy from Coastal Carolina's lights," Harrison said. "The difference right now, these are the original lights of the stadium (which opened in 1991). We've gotten ourselves in a situation where they've deteriorated to the point of replacement. "Dixon Electric has done our lights for over a decade.

They looked at it and found significant issues -- bolts falling out and everything else." The stadium lights project is projected to cost $500,000-600,000, secured from a private donor. "We had to be creative," Harrison said. "We got it done through a private donor, and we're working through it now." Harrison said Marshall benefits greatly from night games in terms of increased ticket sales, concession sales and greater television opportunities. The Thundering Herd will play a Tuesday night game against South Alabama Oct.

20 that will be nationally televised in part of an agreement with the Sun Belt Conference. "People eat more food and drink more beer at night," Harrison said. "All of this, we expect $136,000 in incremental revenue per game if we're able to play night games. We also can't play ESPN games at night without bringing in additional lighting.

"If it's dark in the Joan, nobody can see what's going on." Data suggests that Marshall averages more than 23,000 fans for evening kickoffs, outperforming afternoon games. Concession revenue climbs as high as 40% in comparison. The indoor turf project will take $450,000, secured via private donation. The indoor turf project benefits just about every program at Marshall.

While the track and football programs are predominant users, baseball, for instance, used the field for practice during the winter storms weeks before the season began. "That field is over 10 years old. People think it's just a football field, but every sport we have with the exception of maybe golf and swimming, use the indoor field at some point for training purposes. We don't have an outdoor track, so we have our indoor track for throws.

The field doesn't last nearly as long. Most try to last seven years," Harrison said. "It needs replacing in the worst way for safety purposes and everything else. We've gotten (funding) done."