WVU’s Baker Says West Tower Press Box Project Moving Along
May 22, 2026 10:00 AM | Football
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By: John Antonik
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University Vice President and Director of Athletics Wren Baker says he's pleased with the progress being made on the estimated $150 million Milan Puskar Stadium West Tower Press Box project currently in the planning stages.
The Athletics Department recently announced a partnership with Barton Malow and March-Westin to serve as construction managers on the project, tentatively set to begin following the conclusion of the 2026 football season.
The new tower is expected to secure the future of Milan Puskar Stadium by enhancing it with additional premium seating that will put the venue on par with its Big 12 peers.
"You have seen renderings and some information on the West Press Box Tower project and that is going very well," Baker said earlier this week. "We are quietly doing the fundraising for that, and I will tell you that it has gone extremely well.
"I anticipate that there will be updates over the course of the summer and into the fall," he added. "If all goes well, that project will be completed and open in time for the 2028 football season. I think we are doing well with that; our facilities team, (senior deputy athletics director) Rob Alsop, our fundraising team – all those people deserve a lot of credit for how fast that project has moved forward."
The West Tower Press Box project was approved by West Virginia University's Board of Governors and represents the latest refurbishment to the 46-year-old home of Mountaineer football, and probably the most significant in terms of revenue-generating capabilities.
According to Baker, he believes when construction is completed, the Athletics Department will realize as much as $6 million per year in annual revenue from premium seating sales.
Vice president and director of athletics Wren Baker visits with media in the Milan Puskar Center team room on Tuesday, May, 19, 2026 (WVU Athletic Communications photo).
The AD notes the project should not affect general seat pricing.
"We have looked at a variety of things since we're doing this new premium pricing and reseating, and we really feel like the primary value is to be had in the new premium inventory, and it doesn't behoove us to do a lot of change out in the stadium other than the part that has to be changed because of the project," he explained.
"Our best asset is our market share. Everybody in this state cares, so we're very, very careful and intentional to not do something to deteriorate our market share," Baker observed. "That means having tickets (fans) can afford so we really try to keep that affordability there. For the premium seats, we can't do that and compete (with West Virginia's peers), but that get-in point, we try to keep as affordable as we can."
While still in the planning stages leading up to the beginning of construction, Baker indicted a lot is under consideration, particularly concerning the transition year in 2027 between initial construction in 2026 and the anticipated completion date in 2028.
"(Senior associate athletics director) April Messerly, who is over our facilities team and works very closely with Rob and our architects and outside consultants, they are exploring those options," he mentioned. "Early on, there are some temporary structures that could be erected that could have certain parts of the game day in there. Potentially, we could start the demolition after this upcoming football season, and if it opens in '28, that leaves '27. I think we can look at where would we build some temporary suites in the stadium so that people are not displaced totally, and to be completely candid, it allows us to keep the revenue and not go a year without (suite) revenue.
"We're trying to do that in a way where, 'Hey, this is also a test run to maybe adding future additional premium seating.' So, if this goes well and people like it, we may add that as a permanent element later," Baker continued. "We are exploring a lot of (options) and we're not quite there yet in terms of what that looks like and where we would put all of those structures, but we definitely plan to make some temporary accommodations for some of our best donors and business supporters."
Baker indicated the stadium capacity should not be altered significantly when the new tower is completed. Presently, Milan Puskar Stadium's capacity is officially listed at 60,000.
"We are bringing some club seats down in front of the new tower, so that is going to require some changing and we lose a little capacity, but it's minimal, maybe 200 (seats)," he said. "It's not really much of a change capacity-wise, but when you put chairback seating in a section where there were bleachers that changes it.
"It's a little bit to-be-determined on that, and we have people to help us with the analytics and the analysis of that, but I don't anticipate any major changes," he said.
The stadium tower construction initiative falls in line with Baker's philosophy of concentrating on revenue-generating capital projects, although he did indicate Hope Coliseum's apron is in desperate need of replacing.
It's something that has been on his radar screen since his hiring in the late fall of 2022.
"Generally, if a project is not revenue-producing, we're not tracking on it very much right now; the one exception to that is the apron around the Coliseum, which I think is one of our greatest eyesores," he admitted. "Those of us who live it every day, maybe don't recognize it as much, but I remember the first time I walked into that building I was like, 'Oh man,' and it has gotten way worse since then. That's a project I feel pretty passionately about because I think it's a bad representation for us and for our state."
Baker mentioned the estimate to complete that project is approximately $1.5 million, and a potential donor has been identified to help foot the bill.
Presently, the Coliseum is undergoing premium seating upgrades that he says when completed will bring in additional yearly revenue for the department.
"It will generate roughly $300 to $400,000 annually, so a five-year payback made sense," he noted. "I think if something gets longer than 10, then you really have to think if a project is worth it. But it all depends upon the donor commitments around the project. The football project is $150 million, and we think we can raise the vast majority of that through donations, if not all of it, and it will generate in excess of $6 million annually for our budget, but if you were looking at a payback, that would take longer."
"Each project is different and you evaluate it differently," he said.
Another significant financial benefit of the West Press Box Tower project is the possibility of making Milan Puskar Stadium suitable to host large outdoor concerts during the offseason like what other schools in the Big 12 are doing.
For example, Iowa State's Jack Trice Stadium is serving as the host venue for two major outdoor concerts this year – Luke Combs, which was held on April 11, and Post Malone and Jelly Roll, who will perform in Ames on July 17.
West Virginia had its concert dry run at Milan Puskar Stadium when Jake Owen performed during the Gold-Blue Spring Festival on Saturday, April 18, following the conclusion of the spring football game. Baker believes it is important for Mountaineer athletics to continue generating real dollars for the local and state economies.
"We've got some things we've got to work through like how many people can we have on the field given the number of exits, ramps and stairwells?" he says of hosting major outdoor concerts. "Both of our venues have challenges in terms of loading and unloading staging material, so we're looking at working on one of our tunnels where we can at least get semi-trucks all the way to the field and not have to forklift, crate by crate, and take days to get everything on the field. We are designing and retrofitting our facilities to host some of those types of events.
"Knowing in '28 is when we'll be fully open, we are looking at some bigger shows in the stadium," he concluded.
