Updated: 09/19/2009 8:21 PM KSTP.com | Print |  Email
By: Abby Miller

Concordia Opens New Stadium

It may not have the hype or long lines of the Gophers’ TCF Bank Stadium, but Concordia University in St. Paul celebrated the opening of its new stadium Saturday.

The stadium holds about 2,000 people, and fans say that although Concordia hasn’t had football on campus for 30 years, the home-opener felt like coming home.

Corcordia fans were celebrating long before kick-off Saturday afternoon. Some brought brills, while other brought games to play. Some simply sat in the stands, enjoying the new stadium in the Saturday sunshine.

Opening day drew former students, like Bill Wasmund, who went to Concordia 45 years ago. “We didn’t have football in my day. They were starting it the next year,” says Wasmund.

Former Concordia football player Adam Kroth was also at Saturday’s game. He says he can really fell the impact of having a stadium on campus. “To have to walk a mile down the road from our locker room,” remembers Kroth. “It’s just things like that. Now we walk right out of our locker room to the stadium and I think that’s the way it should be.”

The admissions office says the new stadium is attracting new students; enrollment of the student athletes is up about 10 percent. “It gives them a little recognition that they’ve got the football program for a student who wants to come to a smaller place than the U(niversity of Minnesota). This is a good place to come and play football,” says Kristin Schoon, Director of Undergraduate Admissions.

Saturday was also Military Appreciation Day at the Stadium.