Colorado State University Athletics
Memorable Moments: Breaking Ground on a Bold New Future
9/18/2025 2:00:00 PM | Football
Canvas Stadium ushered in a new era
With schools like Northwestern, South Florida and Hawaii the latest universities to see new stadiums under construction, this week we look back on the 10th anniversary of the groundbreaking of Canvas Stadium and what it took to get to that day.
On Sept. 12, 2015, a canopy with chairs and a line of shovels with hard hats at the front of the seating area stood at what was to become the new CSU stadium. Still yet unnamed at this point, pre-construction on the site had started months prior. A group of fans, alumni and even some who opposed the stadium, despite its approval, arrived in their seats for the historic occasion hours before the Rams kicked off against Minnesota.
CSU President Tony Frank, future CSU President Amy Parsons, Athletic Director Joe Parker, coach Mike Bobo, alumni director Kristi Bohlender and several other dignitaries lined up after several speeches to do the ceremonial groundbreaking. With a turn of the shovels in the dirt, the new stadium construction had officially begun.
Afterwards, fans roamed the area, where chalk lines had been laid in the dirt to show where the football field would eventually be, complete with hash marks, numbers for every 10 yards and a Rams logo at the 50-yard-line. It was a much nicer groundbreaking ceremony and more fan-friendly than the one on May 8, 1967, when construction began on Hughes Stadium.
The venerable old concrete giant by the foothills had seen its share of CSU football, rock concerts and even band competitions. Frank, along with then athletic director Jack Graham started a project in 2012 to replace Hughes Stadium for not only an on-campus stadium, but one that would lead CSU athletics into a new conference and attract athletes the Rams needed to move upwards. Graham called it a Bold new era in CSU athletics.
Over the next three years, Frank, Graham and then Parker, worked hard to gain support for the idea to bring football back onto the main campus at CSU. Hughes Stadium may have been called the Showcase of the Rockies when it opened in 1968, but the tired old stadium needed a lot of upgrades to have CSU considered as a Power 5 school. Upgrades that would cost almost as much as a new stadium.
The debate over whether the school should refurbish the aging stadium or replace the stadium began with a group of local citizens. The Save our Stadium group called to action that Hughes Stadium was fine, and the school did not need to spend the money. They placed signs all over Fort Collins that read, Renew Hughes to call attention to their opposition over building a new football stadium on the CSU campus. It was later learned that many of those who opposed a new stadium and wanted to renew Hughes, were not football fans or even CSU graduates. The majority had never been to Hughes Stadium for a football game.
Meanwhile, Frank worked tirelessly to lobby the Board of Governors while eventually Parker worked with the season ticket holders and other athletic supporters to gain their support. While it sounded like a great idea, careful planning from where to place it on the campus to how it would be paid for went on for months upon months at a time.
Public meetings were held to inform the people of Fort Colins about this stadium. While CSU is its own entity and did not need to have approval from the people or government of Fort Collins, Frank and his team working on the project did not want the community to feel left out.
Just like in 1961, when the debate over athletics vs academics took place on the CSU campus amid horrible facilities that needed a dire upgrade, a new debate ensued with the same question. The Wall Street Journal reported that, 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 sparked dueling websites, animated letters to the editor and arguments about the role of sports at a university.
Ultimately, the facility was seen to draw students and a new athletic conference to the school, especially out of state students. Frank said, 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.
Ultimately, the final decision was made by the CSU Board of Governors, not the fans, not the community and not the faculty but the governing board that overlooks the CSU system. In their approval, board chair Dorothy Horrell said, The decision to build an on-campus stadium was made after a 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. Those who opposed the stadium lost their fight, and a new era in CSU football was about to begin.
In May of 2015, the former parking lot that stood on the site, some greenhouses and utilities were moved so that construction could begin. The ground was cleared, and a decision was made to hold an official groundbreaking ceremony on Sept. 12th in advance of the Minnesota game. The day was sunny and clear, almost a foreshowing of the new and beautiful stadium that would rise on the CSU campus over the next two years.