CHAIR-BACK SEATS, "M" DESIGN ENHANCE BRIDGEFORTH STADIUM

CHAIR-BACK SEATS, "M" DESIGN ENHANCE BRIDGEFORTH STADIUM

CHAIR-BACK SEATING HAS BEEN EXPANDED AT BRIDGEFORTH STADIUM

HARRISONBURG (3/14/05) – A refurbishing project that began a week ago will provide chair-back seating for nearly one thousand fans at James Madison University's Bridgeforth Stadium/Zane Showker Field for the upcoming college football season.

The replacement of the stadium's previous chair-back seats and additions to the section will give the stadium 990 chair-back seats. Crews worked through the weekend to complete the project.

The stadium's chair-back seating section now extends for 20 rows from the top portion of the facility.

The expanded chair-back section has a large letter “M” included in its design. A majority of the seats are purple, but other seats are white and gold. The “M” design was formed by the placement of the gold seats with an outline of white seats.

JMU season tickets for the 2005 football campaign are now available through the JMU athletics ticket office, and the chair-back seating section of the stadium is included in the university's reseating process for the upcoming season. Orders for those seats and 50 percent of the associated required pledges to the JMU Duke Club must be received by May 15.

JMU's athletics ticket office is located at the JMU Convocation Center. Its telephone number is 540-568-3853 (JMU-DUKE).

Enhancement of the chair-back seating section is among several projects currently underway in the Bridgeforth Stadium/Zane Showker Field area. Safety railings are being installed in the stadium's aisles, and occupants of the Robert and Frances Plecker Athletic Performance Center are scheduled to move into their areas between March 28 and April 5. The Performance Center has been under construction in the stadium's east end zone since the late summer of 2003.

The Performance Center will house locker, office, meeting, and equipment areas for the JMU football program and student services and academic advising areas for each of JMU's 28 intercollegiate athletics programs. Sports medicine and strength and conditioning areas that will provide benefits throughout athletics program also are included in the facility.