Houck Field: Looking forward at what's the come

Many movies, TV shows and written pieces have portrayed a young fan — or perhaps an aging veteran player — walking into a sports cathedral for the first time.

Marveling at the new, while feeling the familiar.

That’s the effect Southeast Missouri State University officials are shooting for with a new Houck Field.

The home-opener for the Redhawks football team will serve as the gridiron christening of the first phase of reconstructing the stadium. Getting to this point took two years.

With the home-opener on the horizon in 2021, university officials learned they had to shut down the south grandstand. The nine-decade-old facility was in danger of collapsing. And so, for two seasons, fans have been relegated to the north bleachers and other areas.

But that changes this year.

A new south grandstand, concession areas and expanded restroom facilities are features of the $16 million first phase rebuild that will be home to the Redhawks football and soccer teams. Future phases will ambitiously locate academic facilities to house sports medicine and physical therapy spaces and, ultimately, other athletic training infrastructure. The project will cost several tens of millions of dollars and will take several more years to complete. Good things take time.

“When we talk about the Houck project, we aren’t just talking about the stadium,” Carlos Vargas, president of Southeast Missouri State University, has said. “It is a multiuse complex that will include a facility with classrooms, labs and offices to support STEM, health, life and allied health sciences research, and academic programs.”

The president contends the completed facilities will stand as a building block for the university and community.

First phase highlights

Brady Barke, vice president for Intercollegiate Athletics, said fans will notice several things about the new Houck.

Four thousand seats will bring the stadium’s total capacity to 8,000.

Concession areas will also feature new items.

A picture of the digital scoreboard is shown on Tuesday, Aug. 15. (Photo by Gary Rust II)

“We are still finalizing our concessions offerings, but do expect a few changes,” Barke said. “There may be some different menu items, and we are switching from bottled beverages to fountain drinks. There will also be an increase in the new number of points of sale and we will be able to take credit card payments, which should help serve customers more efficiently.”

Premium seating areas will provide new sightlines and more intimate, closer-to-the-field feel.

A practical improvement is sure to be a hit with fans, Barke suggested.

“Fixture counts in the restrooms. I am sure people are going to be really excited about that,” he noted. “I think the women’s restroom in the old stadium, probably, there were maybe six or eight stalls. I believe there will be 32 in this one, in this initial phase.”

Built well before the Americans with Disabilities Act became law, the stadium was not handicap-friendly. That will not be the case with Houck 2.0.

“The accessibility into and within the stadium will be much improved for our guests. There will be handicap-accessible seating offerings in each of our different seating areas, which is something we haven’t had in the past,” Barke said.

The next phase of the project, from an athletic facilities perspective, will focus on the press box facility and game operations areas, while new academic facilities will build on “synergies” with the university’s athletic training and sports medicine programs.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” Barke noted.

Construction crews continue work outside Houck Field on Tuesday, Aug. 15. (Photo by Gary Rust II)

Impact on athletics, community

Winning culture? Check.

Top-notch coaching? Check.

Wow-factor facilities? Getting there.

In the race to recruit student-athletes — and students in general — universities tout themselves in various ways. Investing in athletic facilities is one way to enhance not only athletic programs in particular but the university community and Southeast Missouri region in general.

“Facilities play a major role in recruitment and decision making for student-athletes. Student-athletes want to know they will have proper facilities in which to train and compete,” Barke explained. “ I believe the impact will extend beyond football and soccer because it speaks to the upward trajectory of athletics as a whole, which will likely have a positive impact on recruiting for all sports.”

Vargas pointed to numbers.

“It is extremely important to the University and the community. Athletic success certainly elevates the entire University. For example, when our Men’s Basketball team made the NCAA Tournament this spring, we saw an 84% increase in Google search traffic compared to the year prior and a 67% increase in our website traffic,” he noted.

A new Houck will immediately become one of the region’s icons.

“Houck has long been one of the most identifiable landmarks in our region. While it will have a new look, it will draw more people to our campus and region than most other places and is important not only for our campus, but for downtown Cape Girardeau,” Barke contended.

The economic impact of the project will reverberate throughout the region, Barke said.

“Home football weekends are huge for our University and our community. Countless alumni return to campus on these weekends, many of whom maybe wouldn’t otherwise,” he said. “The economic impact for our restaurants, hotels and other businesses is also significant. The downtown area in particular benefits because of the stadium’s location.”

LEFT: The new field turf includes a new shading on the hash marks and numbers. A new press box will be constructed above the south grandstand in the future. (Photo by Gary Rust II)

The university president echoed the sentiment.

“I think the stadium is so much more than just a university facility. It is a place where our community gathers. It is where we cheer on our teams. I remember during the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the first community events we held was a socially-distanced movie night on the field. I remember seeing school children from across the region on the field during the 2017 solar eclipse playing games and viewing the eclipse through a telescope. It is a place that brings our community together and benefits from widespread support in addition to the economic impacts that those events have on both our region and state,” Vargas said.

A local business owner couldn’t agree more.

Chris Marchi, owner of Mary Jane bourbon + smokehouse, located a Hail Mary pass from the stadium, just across Broadway, contended Houck anchors downtown Cape Girardeau.

“This stadium is the heart of downtown Cape Girardeau. You think of Broadway as kind of the lifeblood of downtown Cape Girardeau, well SEMO and SEMO Athletics are right there in the middle of it,” he said. “I like to tell my staff that we are part of the downtown community, and SEMO is a huge part of not only the downtown community but Cape Girardeau. We are a college town. Being directly across from the campus, that university is a major focus for our business, because they bring a lot of people to our doorstep. That’s why we have the relationship that we have with the university. We are always trying to partner with them to do different things.”

He predicted the project will boost the entire region.

“When we do something like this in Cape Girardeau, it affects the surrounding communities as well because people from Scott City and Perryville (Missouri) and across the river from Carbondale (Illinois) and other areas, they want to see new Houck,” he said. “When they come to Cape, they are going to experience different things in Cape, the restaurants, such as Mary Janes or Burritoville or Speck. They are going to go to those places, and they are going to say, ‘Wow, this is great!’ And Houck brought them to Cape, and then they are going to experience those places, and they are going to come back.”

That prediction wasn’t difficult to make, based on past experience.

“On a football day, on a Saturday … typically the games are early afternoon, so you get people to come tailgate or come to brunch at our place before the game, and then you will get some other people who go to the game and then come to our place after the game. So, on game days, it’s pretty much all hands on deck,” Marchi explained. “When we have a volleyball game or gymnastics, those games are at night. The parents and fans will typically come to the restaurant before the game. … Most of them they plan the event around coming to dinner or getting something to eat or drink beforehand. A lot of the volleyball parents come before the game and they meet because they know each other because their kids are playing on the volleyball team. They might not necessarily have known them before. So, it’s an easy place for them to gather.”

University officials have estimated visitors to the complex will spend at least $1 million annually and through 2033, the complex will add $31 million to the local economy ($22 million in capital spending and $9 million in income expected from visitors).

Funding for the project is coming from various sources. The City of Cape Girardeau has pledged more than $10 million to the project, and state government has awarded $11 million with the potential for $18 million more to come. The university’s foundation has committed $12 million.

“While there has been a lot of funding we have been able to secure and have people partner with us, there is still a fair bit to go,” Barke said. “But we have some momentum. There is some excitement in the community from a fundraising standpoint. People are excited about the possibilities of moving from Phase 1 of this south side grandstand project to moving into future phases.”