MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Seating at Hope Coliseum and Milan Puskar Stadium for WVU athletic events will be shifting as early as next season.
West Virginia University Director of Athletics Wren Baker gave an update on the final phase of WVU’s Athletics Facilities Master Plan.
Premium seating is the main change coming to both major venues.
“When you look in the power conferences, in terms of our two main sport venues, we’re near the bottom in available premium seating,” Baker said. “This will be a huge dent towards making headway in that area.”
Work inside Hope Coliseum is expected to be completed ahead of the 2026-27 season.
Baker said construction will begin immediately after the 2026 WVU Commencement, which runs May 15-17, is done. He cited the $1.5 million project to bring premium seating to the venue as a priority to elevate fan experience.
“We brought on the two clubs, but we don’t really have any kind of ledge or low seating,” Baker said. “We are introducing not a ton, but maybe 100 or so of those seats. If that goes really well, we may continue to expand that in the future. In a building that’s older, you can’t just go in there and build suites. We’re trying to find ways to give people that premium experience that a lot of fans really desire and want.”
There’s also a re-seating project for Hope Coliseum ahead of the 2026-27 season based upon donations to university athletics.
“We’re the last team in the Big 12 to do that,” Baker said. “That spurred a lot of giving and a lot of people trying to jockey for that position of where they [sit].”
The student section will be moved from along the length of the floor to behind the opponents’ second-half basket.
Head men’s basketball coach Ross Hodge said he is excited about these changes.
“Coaches win games, and I think administrations ultimately help you win championships,” Hodge said. “Their vision to continue to figure out ways to make not only the experience better for fans, but also for the student-athletes, and really the “Maniacs” and the student section. They impact winning, they really do. They have a huge impact on home court advantages and so for them to be moved closer to that opposing bench and be behind the opposing basket late in games, I’m excited about that.”
Milan Puskar Stadium’s renovations are set for a longer timeline.
Baker said funds raised for the project sit around the two-thirds mark of the university’s goal of $150 million. He noted that the university has received seven gifts of $5 million and above for this project.
The West Tower Project will give a whole new look to the stadium.
“That actually takes the press box down completely and we build a new structure there that’s much larger, and expands wider across the span there,” Baker said. “We’ll bring club seats down from that into the stadium. So it has a new club, has some low seating, has regular-sized suites, premium suites, but also has founders-level suites, which are all $5 million commitments and above for those folks. The working press will get new digs as well.”
Once the fundraising goals are met, Baker said he is hopeful that work can begin immediately after the season ends this fall. Work would conclude ahead of the 2028 football season with that timeline.
Seating for the 2027 season may be a makeshift setup if construction is happening.
“We would have to so some temporary seating throughout the stadium, temporary suites, and that kind of stuff,” Baker explained. “We’re looking at those options now.”
WVU announced two weeks ago that it would be partnering with Legends Global, a venue management group, to help with the West Tower Project.
The WVU Board of Governors approved plans for premium seating at Hope Coliseum and the West Tower/press box project last November.