Yost Renovation and New Scoreboards

Submitted by Raoul on

Annarbor.com reports that a $14 million renovation of Yost Ice Arena will be going before the regents on Thursday for approval:

Improved concourses, new seating and new loge boxes for fans at Yost Ice Arena are among the improvements in a $14 million plan the University of Michigan Board of Regents will consider for approval when it meets Thursday.

The schedule for the construction has not yet been set. Some additional details from the university action request:

The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics is proposing a project which will replace the spectator seating on the east, south and west sides of the rink, improving accessibility as well as emergency egress. The project also includes improvements to the east and west concourses, conversion of the level four west side media balcony into a series of loge boxes, a new level five on the west side for media, as well as new comer and stair platforms for additional seating. Infrastructure improvements will be made, including upgrading the existing fire alarm system, extending the existing fire suppression system to areas which are not currently protected, and replacing the exterior windows.

The annarbor.com article also had a link to a photo (below) showing the new Yost scoreboard, which is being installed this week.

hockeyguy9125

June 13th, 2011 at 7:38 PM ^

replays at Yost. I am curious however, how they will create a "fifth" level and how they will add some more seating. New seating benches are needed and will be real nice to have.

VictorsValiant09

June 13th, 2011 at 9:01 PM ^

Great news.  The expanded concourses has been needed for a while.

I like the wooden benches in the student section, but those have desired replacing for a long time now.

JeemtotheH

June 13th, 2011 at 9:15 PM ^

I dunno, there's nothing wrong with them.  I don't know how old they are, or if they have any historical significance, but they are unique.  Not like the generic metal benches / plastic seats used everywhere.  

I do understand the desire for handicap access, but that is obviously not needed 10 rows up in the wooden bench sections.

hockeyguy9125

June 13th, 2011 at 10:08 PM ^

come on now, they might have character, but damn...at the WMU senior night game, I thought I was going to fall through those benches as we were all jumping up and down pretty high. They are cool and throwback and all, but improvements have to be made. Yost and the student section will remain the great place they are even if the seating benches are no longer unique...

Alton

June 13th, 2011 at 11:20 PM ^

If those things didn't come down when Jed Ortmeyer scored against Denver in the 2002 NCAA Regional, they're never coming down.

But yes, I'm all for doing a little modernization of the seating area without ruining the overall "hockey barn" atmosphere of the place.  I think they know not to ruin a good thing; with maybe one exception, the last few renovations at Yost have been for the better.  They didn't need to add the "premium seating" along the East sideline--those seats are always half empty--and I wonder why they think they need to add more along the West sideline. 

BrownJuggernaut

June 14th, 2011 at 12:26 AM ^

I tweeted earlier about how I don't know how I feel about the renovations, specifically in regards to the bleachers. Just got a response from Brandon:

 

Shep- Pay attention -We are replacing the old bleachers with new bleachers! No need to worry...they will still be bleachers! Just good ones!