Dylon Harrison
Staff Writer
For the first time since it opened in 1970, ISU’s Holt Arena may be getting an entire set of brand new seats.
Currently, Holt Arena can seat 12,000 people for football games and 8,000 for basketball games. This number is not expected to change drastically if the replacement plan gets approved.
Discussions on replacing the seats began over this previous summer, and while this upgrade is not yet guaranteed to happen, the process of planning and getting it approved has already begun.
Requests have been sent out for design teams, with an optional walk-through of Holt available to these teams. Currently, feasibility and cost of the project is being determined in order to get the approval of the Idaho State Board of Education.
“We had to go to the State Board of Ed.,” said Associate Vice President for Faculty Services, Cheryl Hanson. “Whenever you embark on a large project such as this, you have to go and ask their permission. Anything over $1 million has to have State Board of Ed approval.”
While no definitive budget has been set for the project, replacing all of Holt’s 12,000 seats is expected to easily break the $1 million cap allowed before needing the state’s approval.
Previously, broken seats have either been fixed, repainted, or completely replaced. Now, however, the replacement seats have run out.
While no plan is official yet, there has also been discussion of potentially having different types of seating in different sections, such as upholstered cushions and cushioned seating in Holt’s booster boxes.
Most of the arena’s seating will likely be replaced with seats made of fiberglass, similar to the ones currently in Holt.
It is still unknown when the seats will be replaced if this project is approved by the State Board of Education.
Hanson said replacing the seats is just the next step of many to come for improving Holt Arena. Previous upgrades included replacing the original football turf in 2011, changing from Poly-turf to an infilled synthetic turf. This is the same type of turf used at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.
Holt Arena also replaced its lighting system back in 2017, a project that cost $536,000. They upgraded by installing 85 LED lighting fixtures.
Having opened in 1970, Holt Arena is the oldest enclosed stadium in use by a college in the U.S. It is the second oldest overall, coming in second to the Houston Astrodome, which was built in 1965 and closed in 2006.
It was originally called the “ASISU Minidome,” but was renamed in 1988 after former ISU athletic director, Milton W. “Dubby” Holt (1914-2007). He served as ISU’s athletic director from 1967 to 1989.
Upon completion, Holt Arena replaced Davis Field, formerly known as the “Spud Bowl,” as ISU’s home football field.
Facility Services hopes to have more information regarding the seating replacement available for the ISU community by January of 2019. This is also when they expect to know for sure themselves if and when the seating replacement will be taking place.
