INSIDE THE SPARTAN STADIUM REBUILD: How MSU plans to transform the east side over the next three years

Michigan State has spent much of the past year talking about where its athletic department is headed.

President Kevin Guskiewicz has now hired Dan Bartholomae as the university’s next athletic director, entrusting him with an athletic department pursuing championships, dramatically increased revenue, major fundraising growth, and an ambitious vision for its facilities.

One of the biggest pieces of that vision is already moving.

The $500 million modernization of Spartan Stadium’s east side was conceived before Bartholomae arrived, the design process is underway, and Michigan State has already selected the team that will turn those plans into reality. When Bartholomae officially takes over the athletic department Aug. 31, he will inherit one of the largest capital projects in Michigan State athletics history already in motion.

That makes this a particularly interesting moment to look deeper into exactly what Michigan State has planned.

When Michigan State announced Barton Malow as construction manager, it handed one of Michigan’s largest construction firms responsibility for the most significant investment in Spartan Stadium since the upper decks transformed the venue nearly 30 years ago, but the company’s winning proposal reveals far more than who will build it – it shows how Barton Malow intends to pull it off.

Spartans Illustrated obtained the company’s 29-page proposal, along with supporting documents that provide a remarkably detailed glimpse into the next three years at Spartan Stadium. Taken together, they show how far in advance construction planning must occur before major demolition begins, how Michigan State can continue playing football inside Spartan Stadium as one side of the facility is torn apart and rebuilt, what fans could encounter during the heart of construction, and how dozens of overlapping construction phases have to come together in time for the 2029 season.

The proposal also helps explain why Barton Malow won the job, beginning with a level of familiarity few competitors could match.

Source: Barton Malow proposal

The company has worked across Michigan State’s campus for more than two decades, most recently completing Spartan Stadium’s West Tower renovation, and says that experience has given it an understanding of the university’s “rhythms, constraints, and priorities.”

It also partnered with Granger Construction, another longtime MSU builder, and already has a deep relationship with Populous, working with the stadium’s architect on 42 projects worth more than $5 billion since 1989.

That experience should become especially important as dozens of groups make coordinated decisions on a tight timeline, and Barton Malow’s schedule shows just how early that work has to begin.

The schedule reveals that the actual demolition comes almost at the midpoint

One of the most revealing documents accompanying Barton Malow’s proposal is a three-page Gantt chart tracking nearly every major activity between February 2026 and August 2029. At first glance, it is an intimidating collection of overlapping design phases, approvals, procurement schedules, demolition work, construction milestones, installations, and inspections, but spend some time with it and the logic of Michigan State’s plan begins to come into focus.

The most striking takeaway is how much of the project is scheduled to happen before fans see the dramatic physical transformation of Spartan Stadium begin.

You've reached the paywall. Subscribe annually today and receive your choice of a free MSU T-shirt, sweatshirt, or hat – up to a $50 value – from our only advertising sponsor, Nudge Printing.

You'll also get to finish this article, including exclusive images from Barton Malow's winning proposal, and learn:

• Why the most dramatic phase of the project won't begin until October 2027 – and how much work has to happen before then

• What Spartan Stadium could actually look like on game days during the height of construction in 2028

• How MSU plans to move more than 70,000 fans through a stadium that will revert to an active construction site after each home game

• What the actual construction schedule and game-day logistics plans reveal about the next three years

• What Barton Malow learned from major stadium projects at Penn State, Notre Dame, and elsewhere – and how those lessons will shape the work at MSU

• Why Barton Malow's decades of experience at Michigan State, including the recent West Tower renovation, helped it win the job

After subscribing, email SpartansIllustrated@gmail.com with the T-shirt, sweatshirt, or hat you'd like, your size, and where you'd like it shipped.