Carter-Finley Stadium is celebrating its 40th birthday like many do; by getting larger. Last summer the Wolfpack completed the replacement of its outdated press box, but now is in the midst of replacing the A.E. Finley Fieldhouse with lower level seating that will expand the stadium’s capacity to almost 60,000. This North Endzone project, called the "Red Zone", will not only complete the lower level bowl, it will replace the outdated home and visitor locker rooms while completing the concourse level circuit. Also a (you guessed it) brick walk of fame will complete the football field-like plaza extending from the RBC Center’s front doors.
There are some fantastic images of the project on the web (more photos here). It appears that the basic form is now in place, and the interior workup is about ready to begin. The project’s deadline is August 1, so the remaining construction crews have their work cut out for them this summer.
The locker rooms in the Red Zone complex will be a vast improvement, however they don’t fix a vexing problem with the stadium’s master plan. In 2002 NCSU completed the construction of the Murphy Center which houses the football program’s offices, training facilities, locker rooms, museum, and more. It’s fronted by an impressive fountain/sculpture of three wolves (photo), by the way. Unfortunately the Murphy Center’s locker rooms were not built at field level, so the football team has to go down stairs and elevators to get to the field level tunnel. Movement of the entire football team back up to the locker room takes too long at halftime, so the team must use a dedicated halftime dressing room in the new Red Zone. Does anyone else think that perhaps the Murphy Center would have been better located in the North end zone?
While we’ll all have to ponder the logic of building two dressing rooms for one team, we all can certainly appreciate the maturation of Carter-Finley stadium from a vee of concrete in a cow pasture to a true wolves den. Now to see if we can ever make this ACC football arms race create more national respect for the original ACC teams…
Being a WVU Grad. who gets more than a little amuzement out of the ACC falling flat on it’s face with the team grab from the Big East. All I can say is respect has to be earned, and Go Florida State…Keep it a one team conference. g
I do sorta root for NC State, though.
I find it a little amuzing that a WVU grad can’t spell the word amusement.
I noticed that the WVU grad’s first sentence isn’t even a sentence. Go Wolfpack! Go ACC!
Thanks for the NC State coverage Dana – I have to say you are a very even handed Tarheel – we all could learn something from you
I find the entries making fun of the WVU grad to be in poor taste and misplaced. As far as I am aware this is a site that is intented to be FUN, not part of the national grammar or spelling competition. Lighten up?
The reason the locker room in the Murphy Center was not built on field level was that it is used about 7 times a year for games, versus around 60 (or maybe more) times a year for practice. It made more sense to locate it on the concourse level so the players wouldn’t have to go up 40′ worth of stairs every day to get to the practice fields. Imagine if Philip Rivers broke his leg accidently running up a flight of stairs to get to practice? Trying to get 100 players up and down elevators every day wasn’t a practical solution either. The main reason the Murphy Center wasn’t built in the North End Zone was that there wasn’t enough time to demolish the old Finley Fieldhouse and build the new Murphy Center there between seasons. Hope this clears up some of the mystery.