Back on January 24th following the end of the College Football Playoff I took the opportunity to remind everyone that the upcoming football season would be the first for Notre Dame’s $400 million Crossroads project. Now, we’re just a matter of weeks away from the debut* of the project.

*It’s not being advertised but the entire project won’t be complete by the first football game. Many of the finishing touches will be on the academic side within the new buildings so not a major distraction for fans on Saturdays. By January, everything should be complete.

The impetus for writing the article back in January was to remind people of the project but also to remind everyone how far reaching it was going to be and talk about some of the details that weren’t getting much publicity. In recent days, the University has begun a new social media initiative #NDBiggerThanBrick with additional information most of it surrounding the football amenities.

Let’s talk about some more of the things we can expect:

Inside the Leahy Gate on the south side of the Stadium the original dedication plaque from 1930 will be prominent as well as the displays featuring Notre Dame’s All-Americans, Heisman winners, Hall of Fame members, etc. These displays were previously tacked on the inside of the concourses after the 1997 renovation in a bit of a haphazard manner. Major upgrade to centralize these accomplishments.

Note: I thought the biggest non-playing field miss of the project was not putting some sort of Notre Dame football historical Hall of Fame in the new southern building. Moving the displays here is a step in the right direction but the first two floors (somewhere in the neighborhood of 33,000+ square feet) devoted to one fan gate and the majority for music department rehearsal halls feels like a missed opportunity.

However, there will be four 80-inch video monitors placed inside the south gate which is a boost. The latest release says these screens will not be static and for the opener you will see an on-campus salute to Bob Crable, the newest Fighting Irish member of the College Football Hall of Fame. They are also moving the stadium tours step-off point to this gate and you can imagine the 80-inch screens will be used for effect for those and many other occasions, too.

Among my favorite aspects to the whole project is the renovation of the stadium concourse which (in combination with the random placement of displays mentioned above) was dark and dingy after the last renovation. Brand new signage, Art Deco chandeliers, bricked columns, over-sized displays of historical program covers and tickets, canvas scrims mimicking the original stadium gates, vintage leprechaun screens, and hand-painted Notre Dame branding of popular expressions (shamrock, monogram, etc.) are all part of the new changes.

The original stadium (built over with the ’97 renovation) has been restored through the cleaning of brick and wall washing light fixtures to highlight the decades old structure. The covered columns from the previous renovation help to match the original brick.

There appears to be an effort for the lower concourse to have more of a historical feel while the upper concourse more of a modern feel. The upper will feature atmosphere and football action photos, football-themed graphics, Under Armour uniforms, and more.

The bathrooms have been completely gutted and renovated with Art Deco touches.

Benches and drink rails have been installed throughout the concourse re-purposed from the original wood benches removed from the stadium seating.

New portable concession stands have been created as well as the concession stands offering multi video monitors for menu items and game action. Concession items have also been refreshed and re-priced.

Floor graphics in the concourse will mimic the football field markers and allow fans to more easily figure out where their seats will be as they enter the stadium.

There’s been enough fuss about Notre Dame “being like everyone else” with the Crossroads project but that really only applies to the likes of the new video board and premium seats. It’s going to be an entire different ballgame elsewhere in the stadium. You can see glimpses of some of the signage and amenities in the latest construction update above, as well.

I think after a couple years the video board won’t be talked about all that much, especially from a national and opponent fan perspective. “Oh hey, Notre Dame finally got a video board it’s about time.” That’s about the extent of things with that. However, this massive renovation of the concourse has the potential to be special. For me, Crossroads is really 3 projects rolled into one: The in-stadium upgrades, the academic/student life space contained within the three new buildings, and the concourse renovations. The latter change while mixing the modern and Art Deco might end up being my favorite aspect to Notre Dame’s unique changes to the stadium.