Any idea what renovations y'all have coming down the pipe?
I've posted about this on CSN BBS so I am Copy and Pasting here since it's pretty lengthy what the plans are.
SHSU has plans in the pipe. Thanks to SlyFox for popping in to say something. He regularly visits our KatFans board where most of our fans are at. Bowers is going to get some major overhauls over the next few years. The corner berms are all going to turn into pavilion areas for fans to hangout with bar tops and around an extra 500 seats for capacity on each side. The turf is also being replaced this summer which has been in dire need of replacement the last couple of seasons. The school is also taking our field events out of the stadium leaving only the track.
SlyFox is correct that the university has focused on expansion of the school itself over athletics. We did recently build an incredibly expensive medical school North of Houston in the Conroe/ Woodlands area. I believe the focus will start to shift away from academic expansion (although it will still be hot and heavy) with multiple dormitories being knocked down to be replaced with much larger dorms. Sam Houston's enrollment is around 21,000 and growing quickly. Every class seems to be breaking enrollment records every year.
Once the pavilions and turf are completed, the track will be covered until enough money is raised and a location is decided on for where to relocate the track and the soccer stadium. Expect in Fall 2024 to see a brand new pressbox/ additional suites on the West side of Bowers. The suites added will be for the donors that are on a 20-year waitlist for some premium seating within the stadium as well as an added concourse area with some cantilevered club seating (upper deck type look). Ribbon boards are planned to be added in the stadium on both the home and away side for fans. Once this phase of construction is completed there is no planned dates for future expansion, but the plan is to get a larger video board, bowl in the South endzone to create a tunnel to run out of for the team, the visitors side pressbox and concession renovations with a possibility to add more suites as needed, Then lastly would be to finish bowling in the stadium on the Northside (the Video Board will likely be designed to accommodate seating in the North endzone).
Other renovations include some possible stuff with softball, a new Tennis facility and the addition of a sand volleyball court.
The baseball stadium is already up to C USA standards and is quite a nice facility for fans to visit. The only thing they're likely to get is new turf with the updated athletic markings and conference logos on the field.
Johnson coliseum just had upgrades done to it and has a good fan atmosphere but I believe there are some plans to designate a student section and to add some more premium floor courtside seating at some point.
Football is the main focus currently for Sam Houston athletics as the stadium has not been updated other than the addition of some chairbacks 20 years ago. The fieldhouse was just updated which is the one highlight and I've personally toured it and it feels like a P5 level facility that they did a very good job with. If there are any other trolls that want to make fun of our facilities I'll be glad to answer your questions. It's no secret we're behind in the facilities game. We are working on it and will get there but that has not prevented us from being the 2nd best FCS football team (behind NDSU) in the entire country since 2010. We'll be ready to play with or without facilities.