Spartan Stadium to have permanent lighting

Michigan State’s Spartan Stadium will have permanent lighting by the 2017 season.

The project was approved Wednesday by the MSU Board of Trustees. Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis told The News this week the projected cost is between $2.2 million and $2.5 million and that includes power-sourcing and poles on the east side of Spartan Stadium and roof-top lights on the west side.

“The new contract for the Big Ten requires you provide your own lights,” MSU president Lou Ann Simon said Wednesday. “Students are not going to be paying for it, the athletic department will be.” 

She said having LED lights was an opportunity to be eco-friendly.

“We have to do things that are socially responsible,” Simon said. “We’re doing that as a way to be socially responsible and reduce our energy costs.”

Currently, Michigan State rents lights and is one of four Big Ten stadiums that does not have permanent lighting. Michigan Stadium added lights in 2010 ahead of the Big Chill at the Big House that December.

With the addition of lights at Spartan Stadium, it’s likely the Michigan State-Notre Dame game on Sept. 23, 2017 would be a night game. But Simon said the new lights do not necessarily mean more night games at MSU.

“No, it means we have to have lights,” she said. “You need them for 3:30 games because of the TV cameras and high-definition. There is a requirement that the lights be very even and very bright, even for 3:30 games. So it’s not about night games, it’s about having lights.”