Seven teams will visit Missouri's Faurot Field this fall. Those seven teams can be forgiven if they look at their changing quarters and mutter to themselves, "This is supposed to be an SEC stadium?"
For a short time, it won't be. For the 2018 season, Missouri will house both host and visitor to dress in trailers and walk through a construction zone to reach the turf. But in the long run, it will be worth it.
The Tigers are knocking down the south grandstands at the 92-year-old Faurot Field this fall, temporarily reducing Faurot Field's capacity from 71,000 to 61,000, in order to catch up to the rest of the post-modern college football world.
Here's a shot of Faurot Field currently. The south end is at the bottom, opposite the iconic "M" in the north end.
And here are artist's renderings of how it will look beginning in 2019.
Once completed, the south end will hold both locker rooms, coaches' offices, multi-purpose event rooms in the southwest and southeast corners, a new video board, club seats, suites, field boxes similar to those at AT&T Stadium and 4,000 general seats. The final capacity will rise to 65,000.
In addition to boosting the Tigers' recruiting efforts, the new end zone is expected to raise $6 million in revenue a year.
It’s going to be very unique,” Mizzou's chief financial officer Tim Hickman told the Columbia Tribune. “I can high-five the team going onto the field. I can high-five somebody after a touchdown because I’m right there out of the end zone.”