West End Zone Project will boost Clemson in 2006

By Stephen Jerdan  |   Wednesday, April 26, 2006  |  Comments( 8 )

Clemson Tigers
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Have you ever stood near a Boeing 747 commercial airliner and listened very carefully to it at takeoff? I haven't, but I've been as close as any college football fan would want to get to that kind of deafening noise.

In the 2005 season, Clemson's Memorial Stadium, commonly known as “Death Valley," reached an astounding 126 decibels when a packed crowd of 77,381 fans observed a Charles Bennett sack of QB Kyle Wright during the Clemson Tigers' 3 OT heartbreaker against the Miami Hurricanes. This level easily surpassed the old record of 121 decibels set by LSU fans in Tiger Stadium, which holds 91,600.

But crazy as it may seem, its actually about to get a lot harder than that to win in Clemson.

Memorial Stadium has had a reputation for being one of the loudest stadiums in the country since the early 1970's. Many games have been won due to crowd participation, and Death Valley has even been compared to what many recognize as the loudest stadium in the country, University of Florida's the Swamp, by former FSU Seminoles QB Chris Rix.

“Florida was loud in the Swamp," said Rix, “But the loudest, not only the stadium, but the loudest place I have ever been around in my life, was Death Valley."

However, since 2004, Clemson has been involved in renovations to the stadium known as the West End Zone Project. This project, which will boost Death Valley from 77, 381 seats to over 80,000, is designed to not only add seats and brand new facilities to Clemson's beloved stadium, but to enclose the entire west end, as well.

The stadium wasn't enclosed before?

Before the WEZ Project, the west end used to be just a small block of seats that was used primarily for the visiting team's band and a few extra fans. What visiting teams will now have to face is an enclosed addition designed specifically to reflect noise back onto the field at one end, and one of the loudest and most diehard student fan-bases at the other.

It's an uphill battle from here, visiting teams.

With the completion of the West End Zone Project expected before Clemson's 2006 home opener vs. Florida Atlantic, Death Valley just became bigger, better and, most importantly, louder than ever.
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