Improvements to the Matadome and Redwood Hall, which began the summer of 2011, are the first of many projects that are changing the face of the university’s athletic events, which are scheduled to be finished by the end of the spring semester.
Among the first of renovations was the Matadome, which had a $40,000 aesthetic overhaul that included an upgraded center scoreboard with a new audio system and enhanced graphics. The funding came out of the Campus Quality Fee, and was approved by the Associate Students.
“We want to make a more attractive, focused and friendly place that can show the high history of the school,” said Rick Mazzuto, athletics director for CSUN. “This way we improve the customers experience and in the long run improve our athletics department.”
Graphics, such as the CSUN athletics logo, were added to the Matadome to turn athletic events into a more dynamic environment, said Colin Donahue, associate vice president of facilities development and operations.
During the same time the renovations of Redwood Hall began.
The Redwood Hall upgrade was a $2.6 million project funded through a combination of state capital outlay bonds and campus physical plant management funds, Donahue said. Capital outlay bonds, as read in the California state administrator manual, are offered by the state solely for improving existing structures rather than preserving them.
The project involved the replacement of the heating ventilation and air conditioning system in the Matadome and two upper activity gyms within Redwood Hall.
These upgrades are a much needed improvement over the 40-year-old equipment that was replaced, which didn’t offer a cooling option for the buildings, Donahue said.
The changes to these systems are occurring at a gradual rate, and Donahue expects the completion to be by Spring.
The most recent of these projects, the Matadome’s audio and visual systems improvement, began December 2011. According to Donahue, it is a necessary change that is being done in order to support the school’s athletic contests throughout the upcoming years. Funding for the audio and visual project, which cost a total of $600,000, was achieved through the Campus Quality Fee.
Along with the new scoreboard, improvements included two high definition 8-foot by 10-foot video screens placed on each end of the gym in order to provide angles and instant replays during athletic events. There are a total of eight high definition LED scoring tables, four placed on each side.
Not all changes have been electronic though, as a new 6-foot by 3-foot ticket window display has been added to the Matadome to top off the project.
Still in its finishing stages, Donahue predicts to have the project done by late January.
The projects reported on were all funded in varying degrees by the Campus Quality Fee fund, approved and implemented by CSUN President Dr. Jolene Koester during Spring 2008. In her statement to the school on the CSUN website “Campus Quality Fee Update,” Koester remarks the fee would provide services to students during harsh financial times.
” I know we have a great basketball team,” said Guadalupe Castillo, an art major with an emphasis in photography. “And it was about time that our teams had an arena worth their skill and for fans like me.”
