Missouri Athletic Director Laird Veatch had a lot to say about the continued construction of the North End Zone project while he appeared at the Zou to You tour in St. Charles.
For those who would like to see regular updates on the construction, I have an ongoing thread where I post photo galleries every week or two. You can find the thread here.
Or head straight to my updated gallery from Monday.
Here’s a rundown of Veatch's comments.
When asked about being in position to see the NEZ construction completed
Veatch: “It’s a blast, it really is. I was there when that, when that West stadium, with the current press box, when that went up. I saw that step, and to come back and see how far it’s come since, and this kind of, you know, final crown jewel of what we’re doing in the north end, and it is going to be an amazing transformation, not just kind of how we look and feel in the stadium, but outside when you drive by. I am convinced, next to the columns, that’s going to be the next most high-profiled spot that we have, of pictures and just that iconic view of Memorial Stadium. It’s gonna be awesome.”
When asked about ongoing fundraising
Veatch: “It’s been really good, you know, we have really made progress on some of our suite sales. We’re well over half the, half the suites are sold. We’ve actually had some, some really good progress in terms of commitments and philanthropic gifts, we got a seven-figure leadership gifts here in recent weeks. So we’ll have more, more announcements coming out soon, kind of an update of that, maybe some updated renderings here, here in the coming weeks. And (we) just feel really good about the progress. You know, folks are recognizing how important this is and how important it is that we get the philanthropic support and at the level we need because that’ll help make this be a positive return for the department in the long run. So it’s, it’s going great. I mean, in every way, Ahead of schedule where you would expect us to be.”
When asked about other fundraising
(Not quite about the construction, but relevant to the discussion)
Veatch: “Our folks have really responded and just really recognized that this is, you know, an era where you have to invest to win. Even our, I heard from our team (Tuesday) that, you know, we’re over 70 percent renewed and our football season tickets are ahead of where we were last year, you know, we sold out. So even with the price increases, even though some of the changes, the momentum is pretty, pretty incredible.”
Stay up to date on all the Mizzou news with your premium subscription.
Talk about this story in the story thread and discuss so much more in The Tiger Walk.
Make sure you're caught up on all the Tiger news and headlines.
