This entire "renovation" has been incredibly disappointing IMO.
For the timeline on this:
- November 2021: They're supposed to announce it at a football game in November 2021, but it gets pushed.
- January 2022: Doak renovation announcement is made.
- February 2023: The last update about construction & fundraising progress prior to the 2023 season is provided by the athletics department/WPC. The 2023 season then begins and many of the initial improvements are seen for the first time.
- January 2024 NIL Event: No mention whatsoever of the Doak renovations or where fundraising stands.
- February 2024: 2024 season gets underway, nothing has been done since the end of the 2023 season - and there's still no communication from the athletics department or WPC.
- April 2024: There's a tweet that says the NC BOG approved an increase from $15M to $20M for the project's budget.
- June 2024: Pack9 makes a Super Regional and we get an update from Ben Broussard via email that doesn't provide much of any details other than utility work will be done soon and they hope to have these renovations completed prior to the 2026 season.
About 16 months went by between updates provided by the athletics department or the WPC. I get that things change, go wrong, etc. as financial conditions change and issues are encountered, but people have been waiting for Doak Field renovations for over a decade. The initial plans announced in January 2022 were welcome given that something was happening, but this renovation plan would've still left Doak far behind many conference opponents at its completion. But continuing to ask for more $ from the fans - and keeping a Doak Field renovation tax on season tickets - without even bothering to communicate with the fans for over a year is really frustrating IMO.