Jackson State looking to build 50,000 seat, $200 million domed stadium

Domed stadiums have their place in college football. Those places include Syracuse, N.Y.; Moscow, Idaho; Fargo, N.D. and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Locales chased indoors by a constant threat of snow in the later months of the year. But if officials at Jackson State get their way, you can add Jackson, Miss., to the list of college football domes.

JSU officials announced their plan to build a 50,000 seat domed stadium on Friday, at the projected cost of $200 million. The school hopes to get up to $75 million through public funding; the bill is currently sitting in the state government.

"Young people today enjoy nice facilities," Jackson State head coach Rick Comegy told the Jackson Free Press. "I think (the dome) is going to make a great impact on our program when kids come up and visit and see the modern stadium and the technology that hopefully will be in there."

If approved, the stadium would be nearly double the capacity of the SWAC's second-largest stadium.

The Tigers' current home, the 60,492-seat Veterans Memorial Stadium, appears to be on its way out regardless of whether or not Jackson State gets its state-of-the-art dome. Constructed in 1950, the stadium sits in the way of the city of Jackson's proposed medical and health corridor. 

Jackson State Vice President of Business and Finance Michael Thomas said the dome would also be home to the Tigers' basketball team and, all in all, would be in use close to 200 days per year.