Canvas Stadium

{{Short description|Football stadium at Colorado State University}}

{{Infobox venue

| stadium_name = Sonny Lubick Field
at Canvas Stadium

| former_names = Sonny Lubick Field
at Colorado State Stadium (2017)

| fullname = Sonny Lubick Field
at Canvas Stadium

| logo_image = Canvas Stadium logo.jpg

| logo_size = 200

| image = File:Canvas Stadium.jpg

| image_size = 250

| address = 751 West Pitkin Street

| location = Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S.

| owner = Colorado State University

| operator = Colorado State University

| coordinates = {{coord|40.5700|-105.0885|format=dms|type:landmark_region:US-CO|display=it}}

| image_map = {{maplink|frame=yes|plain=yes|frame-align=center|frame-width=250|zoom=11|type=point}}

| pushpin_map = USA#Colorado

| pushpin_relief = 1

| pushpin_mapsize =

| pushpin_label = Fort Collins

| pushpin_map_caption = Location in the United States##Location in Colorado

| elevation = {{convert|5003|ft}} AMSL

| broke_ground = September 14, 2015{{cite news|url=http://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2015/09/12/colorado-state-university-stadium-groundbreaking/72163352/ |title=CSU breaks ground on new football stadium |first=Rob |last=White |newspaper=Coloradoan |location=(Fort Collins) |date=September 12, 2015 |access-date=September 14, 2015}}

| opened = {{start date and age|2017|8|5|br=yes}}{{cite web|url=http://stadium.colostate.edu/faqs/ |title=Colorado State Stadium: Frequently Asked Questions |publisher=Colorado State University |access-date=March 27, 2017}}

| surface = Shaw Sports Artificial turf

| construction_cost = $220.1 million{{cite web|url=http://stadium.colostate.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/May-2016-Stadium-Report.pdf |title=CSU's Multi-Purpose Stadium Report – May 2016 |publisher=Colorado State University |access-date=July 22, 2016}}
(${{formatprice|{{Inflation|US|220100000|2017}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}}{{inflation-fn|US}})

| architect = Populous
ICON Venue Group

| general_contractor = M. A. Mortenson Co.

| tenants = Colorado State Rams (NCAA) (2017–present)

| seating_capacity = 41,000

| website = {{URL|https://csurams.com/facilities/canvas-stadium/17|csurams.com/canvas-stadium}}

}}

Canvas Stadium, officially Sonny Lubick Field at Canvas Stadium, is an outdoor college football stadium in the Western United States, located on the campus of Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins, Colorado.

The home field of the CSU Rams of the Mountain West Conference, it opened on August 5, 2017, and hosted its first game three weeks later. It replaced Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium, which had been the Rams' home since 1968. Canvas Stadium has a seating capacity of 36,500, but can hold as many as 41,000.{{cite news |last1=Lyell |first1=Kelly|title=Colorado State selling football tickets with plans for full capacity at Canvas Stadium |url=https://www.coloradoan.com/story/sports/csu/football/2021/04/26/colorado-state-selling-football-tickets-plans-full-capacity-canvas-stadium-this-fall/7392088002/ |publisher=Fort Collins Coloradoan |date=April 26, 2021}}

The field has a conventional north–south alignment at an elevation of {{convert|5003|ft}} above sea level.

Development

After a nearly two-year process including cost and financing changes, protests, community outreach, and an inter-governmental agreement with the city of Fort Collins, the $220 million, 41,000-capacity on-campus multi-purpose stadium began construction in May 2015.

In 2013, the university began raising funds for a ~40,000-seat on-campus facility to replace Hughes Stadium. The project was partially driven by major decreases in state funding for CSU in recent decades. As a result, CSU has been seeking to draw more out-of-state students, whose current tuition is three times that of Colorado residents. CSU president Anthony A. Frank included the new stadium as part of this goal saying "the new facility will help build a winning football team while advancing one of the school's highest priorities: attracting more out-of-state students".{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303983904579093432304563144?ru=yahoo?mod=yahoo_itp |title=Colorado State University Bets on a Stadium to Fill Its Coffers |first=Rachel |last=Bachman |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=September 27, 2013 |access-date=September 28, 2013}}

According to The Wall Street Journal,

"Skeptics, including some alumni and faculty, see the project as a boondoggle—especially for a team that plays in a relatively low-profile athletic conference and doesn't sell out its current 32,500-seat stadium off campus. The debate has sparked dueling websites, animated letters to the editor and arguments about the role of sports at a university."

Many community members expressed frustration that they did not feel they were being heard at the CSU Board of Governors meeting when final approval was given. After the vote Board chair, Dorothy Horrell, thanked those making comments for their input and reiterated her feeling that

"the decision to build an on-campus stadium was made after "thoughtful and thorough examination of this issue" that is reflected in the board's records. "As my parents used to tell me, just because I ask a question and didn't get the answer I wanted, it isn't that the question wasn't answered," Horrell said. "And I would just remind us all of that."{{cite web|url=http://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/local/2015/05/07/colorado-state-stadium-board-governors-athletic-director/70964618/ |title=CSU AD pledges to heal wounds opened in stadium debate |website=Coloradoan.com |date=2015-05-07 |access-date=2016-05-05}}

File:SLF@CSS, east stands construction, 10-18-16.jpg

The new stadium, initially estimated to cost $246 million, was originally only to be built if $125 million in private funds had been raised by October 2014. Plans were put on hold after fundraising support for the project failed to materialize as expected, according to a September 26, 2014, story in the Denver Business Journal. On November 29, 2014, Frank sent a memo to the school's board of governors recommending that the new stadium be approved without raising the 50% cost in public funds as previously planned. The memo estimated that a 35,900-seat facility would cost $195 million; building with a capacity of 41,200 would cost $220 million.{{cite news |url=http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/8d99378428ea4277a35afc5556b35237/FBC--Colorado-St-Stadium |title=Colorado State president recommends new on-campus stadium to replace existing football arena |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=The Republic |location=Columbus, Indiana |date=November 29, 2014 |access-date=December 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219072022/http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/8d99378428ea4277a35afc5556b35237/FBC--Colorado-St-Stadium |archive-date=2014-12-19 |url-status=dead }} Frank also estimated that renovating Hughes Stadium to last 30 to 40 years would cost a minimum of $149 million.

The board of governors approved a new on campus multi-purpose stadium on December 5, 2014. At that time, NBCSports.com writer Brent Sobleski speculated that the hiring of Rams head coach Jim McElwain for the head coaching vacancy at Florida days earlier may have swayed the board, noting, "An improving program and a new stadium could help lure another top-level candidate like the school previously did when McElwain was initially hired."{{cite news|url=http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/12/05/board-of-regents-approve-new-on-campus-stadium-for-colorado-state-rams/related/ |title=Board of Governors approve new on-campus stadium for Colorado State Rams |first=Brent |last=Sobleski |work=College Football Talk |publisher=NBCSports.com |date=December 5, 2014 |access-date=December 6, 2014}}

CSU went on to hire Mike Bobo from the SEC like McElwain before him. University of Georgia's Coach Bobo was named the nation's Offensive Coordinator of the Year in 2013 by 247Sports.com.{{cite web|url=http://m.ajc.com/weblogs/uga-sports/2013/dec/19/georgias-mike-bobo-named-offensive-coordinator-yea/ |title=Georgia's Mike Bobo named Offensive Coordinator of Year (UPDATED) | UGA Sports Blog | www.ajc.com |access-date=May 24, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525015254/http://m.ajc.com/weblogs/uga-sports/2013/dec/19/georgias-mike-bobo-named-offensive-coordinator-yea/ |archive-date=May 25, 2015 }} Georgia also had the top scoring offense in the SEC in 2014, Bobo's last season before heading to CSU.{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/stats/team |title=2015 SEC College Football Team Statistics Leaders for Total - ESPN |website=Espn.go.com |access-date=2016-05-05}}

Construction of the new stadium, tentatively known as Colorado State Stadium, began in May 2015; the official groundbreaking ceremony was held the weekend of CSU's September 12, 2015 home football game against Minnesota. The first game in the new stadium was August 26, 2017, when the Rams defeated Oregon State 58–27.{{cite news|url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/recap?gameId=400935282 |title=Colorado St. opens new stadium by beating Oregon St 58-27 |agency=Associated Press |work=ESPN.com |date=August 26, 2017 |access-date=August 27, 2017}}

Stadium donations

In March 2016, the university announced that it had received an anonymous gift of $20 million over a 30-year period with the express purpose of naming the playing field at the new stadium after former Rams head coach Sonny Lubick, whose name was also attached to the playing field at Hughes Stadium.{{cite press release|url=http://www.csurams.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/032516aac.html |title=$20 million gift ensures winning tradition of "Sonny Lubick Field" continues at CSU's new on-campus stadium |publisher=Colorado State Rams |date=March 25, 2016 |access-date=July 22, 2016}} This gift was roughly the amount that the university had hoped to make by selling the naming rights to both the stadium and the field.{{cite news|url=https://www.coloradoan.com/story/sports/csu/football/2018/04/19/colorado-state-university-sells-naming-rights-campus-stadium-fort-collins/531368002/ |title=CSU's on-campus stadium naming rights sell for $37.7 million |first=Kelly |last=Lyell |newspaper=Coloradoan |location=Fort Collins, CO |date=April 19, 2018 |access-date=April 25, 2018}}

In August of that year, New Belgium Brewing Company, an iconic, local Fort Collins brewery, donated $4.3 million to put its name and its product on the party deck of the north end zone of the $220 million stadium.http://source.colostate.edu/csu-new-belgium-brewing-craft-agreement-creating-new-belgium-porch-at-on-campus-stadium New Belgium Brewing craft agreement creating New Belgium Porch at on-campus stadium This new bar area is called the New Belgium Porch.

On April 19, 2018, CSU announced it had sold the naming rights of the stadium itself to Public Service Credit Union for $37.7 million over 15 years. The actual name was not revealed at that time because PSCU was in the process of adopting a new name, which was ultimately revealed on June 5 of that year as Canvas Credit Union. Accordingly, the stadium became Canvas Stadium.{{cite press release|url=http://csurams.com/news/2018/6/5/general-canvas-stadium-is-new-name-for-colorado-state-universitys-multipurpose-stadium.aspx |title=Canvas Stadium is new name for Colorado State University's multipurpose stadium |publisher=Colorado State Rams |date=June 5, 2018 |access-date=June 8, 2018}}

Attendance records

Canvas Stadium has a seating capacity of 36,500, but can hold as many as 41,000.

class="wikitable" !style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle\|Colorado State Rams\|color=white}}" \|Rank !style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle\|Colorado State Rams\|color=white}}" \|Attendance !style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle\|Colorado State Rams\|color=white}}" \|Date !style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle\|Colorado State Rams\|color=white}}" \|Game Result
align="center" \| 1	40,099	September 14, 2024	Colorado 28, Colorado State 9
align="center" \| 2	37,583	August 26, 2017	Colorado State 58, Oregon State 27
align="center" \| 3	36,765	October 14, 2017	Colorado State 44, Nevada 42
4 \|36,720 \|November 15, 2024 \| Colorado State 24, Wyoming 10
align="center" \| 5	36,573	September 7, 2024	Colorado State 38, Northern Colorado 17
align="center" \| 6	36,514	October 13, 2018	Colorado State 20, New Mexico 18
align="center" \| 7	35,009	October 15, 2022	Utah State 17, Colorado State 13
align="center" \| 8	34,901	October 14, 2023	Colorado State 31, Boise State 30
align="center" \| 9	34,780	October 9, 2021	San Jose State 14, Colorado State 32
align="center" \| 10	33,895	October 29, 2022	Colorado State 10, Boise State 49
align="center" \| 11	33,074	October 28, 2017	Colorado State 28, Air Force 45
align="center" \| 12	32,327	September 3, 2021	Colorado State 23, South Dakota State 42
align="center" \| 13	32,166	November 11, 2017	Colorado State 52, Boise State 59^OT
align="center" \| 14	32,125	October 26, 2018	Wyoming 34, Colorado State 21
align="center" \| 15	31,894	September 8, 2018	Arkansas 27, Colorado State 34
align="center" \| 16	31,497	September 2, 2023	Colorado State 24, Washington State 50
align="center" \| 17	31,007	August 25, 2018	Hawaii 43, Colorado State 34
align="center" \| 18	30,300	November 12, 2022	Wyoming 14, Colorado State 13
align="center" \| 19	27,932	September 30, 2023	Colorado State 41, Utah Tech 20
align="center" \| 20	27,767	October 5, 2019	San Diego State 24, Colorado State 10
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