Renovation will affect track fans

A major facelift of the west side of Boise State University’s Bronco Stadium will force a major change for spectators at the Idaho state high school track meets next month.

BSU broke ground in mid-February on a $35.9 million luxury suites/press box addition to Bronco Stadium. That means west-side seating, which overlooks the track’s start/finish line, will be closed. The only seating that will be open will be the east bleachers.

State officials considered moving the five state track meets to five separate sites, Idaho High School Activities Association executive director John Billetz said. Instead, they decided to make the best of the situation because trying to find enough volunteer help at five sites would have been difficult, Billetz said.

“We feel like that just for this one year that this is still the best scenario,” Billetz said.

“It’s going to be a heckuva lot better than trying to host it at five different high schools. The beauty of our state meets is seeing all five at one site. We’re fortunate in Idaho to be able to do that. They can’t do that in all states.”

Although the project is slated for 18 months, Billetz has been told that the west seating should be reopened for next year’s meets.

Billetz said the spectators are the ones who will be most affected, not the athletes.

“We haven’t changed anything that will happen on the track,” Billetz said. “We wanted to make sure there’s as much normalcy for the athletes as possible.”

The biggest change for the spectators is they won’t be looking down on the start/finish line. They’ll be looking at the start/finish area from a distance. If the weather cooperates, spectators may have the sun shining in their faces at times.

Fans also won’t have access to the infield area to take pictures of athletes on the awards stand.

The state has sent out information to track coaches statewide so they can alert parents of their athletes in advance about the inconveniences.

“The best thing we can all do is be flexible and have patience,” Billetz said. “It will still be a good state track meet. It might not be ideal for the spectators, but I don’t think the kids will notice anything really different.”