WICHITA, Kan. — The demolition of Cessna Stadium on the campus of Wichita State University is officially underway, as the bulldozers started knocking down the east grandstand on Tuesday afternoon.
The 24,000 seat stadium was built in 1946 as Veterans Field, and was renamed to Cessna Stadium in 1969 after a renovation was done to the existing stands.
The Kansas Board of Regents approved demolition of the stadium on April 15, 2020, citing the high cost of repairs needed. On September 26, 2022, the university presented its plan for a new facility to the Board of Regents. The plan will be roughly $51 million rebuild of the stadium, and will hold a capacity of around 10,000.
The project is scheduled to be done in four different phases. The east grandstand will be the first to go and will be replaced with a seating berm for nearly 2,400 people. The phase known as 1A will also include new lighting, ticket pavilions, restrooms, storage buildings and a plaza. The 1B plan will follow next summer.
You can watch the demolition of the stadium on the WSU TV YouTube channel.