Michigan State AD J Batt projects Spartan Stadium upgrades by 2029

Upgrades to Spartan Stadium are in the planning phases and projected to be finished by 2029, Michigan State athletic director J Batt said Friday, May 8. However, Batt said he anticipates the Spartans ’ football team will be able to play through the construction when it gets underway – whenever that might be. “We still have a lot of dollars to raise,” Batt told the Detroit Economic Club at MotorCity Casino.

Funding the project, which Batt said will cost in the $500 million range, is a major part of both President Kevin Guskiewicz’s $4 billion “Uncommon Will, Far Better World” capital campaign. Guskiewicz told business leaders that MSU is nearing the halfway mark toward that goal, with $1. 9 billion raised so far.

Batt, who is approaching his one-year anniversary on the job, said he has spent a significant amount of time in his new position working to create the Spartan Ventures nonprofit and to find new streams of revenue. The launch for that is July 1, and Batt said the mission is to raise revenue to support the entire athletic department during the ever-changing college sports landscape and to help bring along the latest round of upgrades for the football stadium that originally was built in 1923. “There’s lot of ideas,” Batt said.

“I think you’ve seen some of the renderings that have been out. There are a lot of priorities. I think Spartan Stadium is an incredible game-day experience, we just need to evolve it and update it.