Before kickoff against Arkansas on Saturday as the Missouri Tigers finished the regular season, the board of curators broke ground on the planned expansion of the North End Zone and concourse.

“The ground did break,” Missouri athletic director Laird Veatch said in a press conference at halftime of Missouri’s game against Arkansas. “... It’s obviously symbolic, but it’s a huge moment and you know what it represents. … A lot of times, you have a groundbreaking and then it’s many months later that things will actually get going. And in this case, it is real, right? We’re really getting after it, obviously, you all have seen some of the construction that’s already taken place.”

The plan includes premium seating, but will keep the Rock M and the hill behind the end zone.

The expansion is planned to add about 2,500 seats to Faurot Field’s maximum capacity and is expected to be completed by the 2026 football season, which is the 100th anniversary of Memorial Stadium.

“It’s a lot of prep work,” Veatch said of the coming weeks now that the Tigers’ home schedule is completed. “... You’ll start seeing a lot of the underground work soon. And then, it takes a while to come out of the ground, but there’s also a ton of work going on in the background. A lot of meetings continuing the design and all those efforts and of course, you know, fundraising.”

The project was planned with a $250-million total price tag when it was unanimously approved by the board of curators in September. Veatch said the university currently has about $90 million in total commitments, but recently closed a “seven-figure gift” before Saturday’s game.

“I think we’re going to start seeing some more progress here soon,” Veatch said. “A lot of our focus in the last month or two in particular has been more towards this sort of shift where we’ve talked publicly about our fundraising overall process and what we’re doing.”

The renovation is aimed not just to upgrade amenities for all fans, but to increase general revenue for the athletic department with the addition of what the university calls “premium area seating,” also known as field-level and elevated suites that the university can charge premier prices for.

But along with the additional suites, tickets throughout the stadium will see a price increase to help Mizzou better compete with other SEC programs in total revenue.

“Within the month of December, before the end of the year, we’ll be providing more personalized, detailed information to our fans, not only about how it will impact them directly, but also kind of how we’re going to shift our overall fundraising operation,” Veatch said. “Just make it more simple and easy to follow, easy to understand, and really try to motivate our folks who are willing to give above and beyond seats and recognize and reward those kind of efforts."

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