Published July 13, 2017
Brown Stadium renovation project underway
Shovels of dirt are tossed and turned at the groundbreaking Wednesday
for the new track and soccer facilities at the University of Louisiana
Monroe. The project is part of the renovations underway at Brown
Stadium. Emerald McIntyre/ULM Photo Services
Mornings in a Louisiana summer can be fickle. At 10 a.m. with a slight breeze you’re
lulled into a false sense of, “Oh, this isn’t too bad.”
Then, smoothly as a runner taking the bend in 200-meter relay, the wind is gone and
the blistering sunshine makes you wish for a hat, sunglasses and ice water.
The swiftly changing weather didn’t bother the crowd Wednesday at Brown Stadium at
the University of Louisiana Monroe. The people were there for the groundbreaking on
the long-awaited new track and soccer facility, along with renovations to Brown.
President Nick J. Bruno addressed the group, saying, “(it’s) another great day here
on the bayou. This is going to be an amazing project.
“Six teams of track and our soccer team will have a facility where they can actually
have games at night,” he said, noting that with the new track ULM will once again
be hosting meets.
The track and soccer facility is the first phase of the $5 million renovations, followed
by remodeling of the stadium’s offices and dressing rooms and lastly, resurfacing
the parking lot.
The project is expected to be completed in May, 2018.
This photo of the University of Louisiana Monroe campus is before 1967.
The football field with the track around it is in the center and Brown Stadium is
on
the left. The stadium was moved in 1967. Archives/University of Louisiana Monroe
The stadium was home to the first football team, built in 1938 on the main campus.
In 1967, the steel frame structure was moved across Bayou DeSiard. A new track, later
named for longtime track Coach Bob Groseclose, was built at that time. In 1978 the
football team moved to the new Malone Stadium.
Women’s soccer was played at Brown from 1999-2006 when it moved to the new soccer
complex at the Grove. Men’s soccer was at Brown from 1979-85. There is no longer a
men’s soccer team.
The ULM track team continued to use Groseclose Track, but stopped hosting meets four
years ago because of the track and stadium’s aging conditions.
But that, like summer weather, is about to change.
Brown Stadium at the University of Louisiana Monroe as it looks today (bottom) and
the architectural image of the stadium when the renovation project is complete in
May 2018.
Sjrdan Marjanovic/ULM Office of Public Information
