Northridge Faces Housing Problem

If you don’t build it, you might be gone.

Doug Fullerton, the Big Sky commissioner, visited Northridge a few days ago and told Athletic Director Paul Bubb the school needs to construct a football stadium on campus, and soon.

“If we don’t do something within the campus facility, it’s making a statement of whether we are committed to the Big Sky Conference,” Bubb said. “I don’t look at it as an ultimatum. Dr. [Blenda] Wilson [Northridge president] can count on the fact that the conference wants us to build on campus and she has to weigh those facts.”

The school was considering playing off-campus after a biotechnical complex is built on the North Campus Stadium area, probably within the next two years.

But Bubb said Fullerton wants Northridge to build a stadium comparable to others in the Big Sky, which typically hold about 15,000 people. Bubb said the cost could run as high as $15 million.

Northridge agreed three years ago, when it joined the conference, to build an on-campus stadium. Residents near the campus, however, oppose the idea.

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Northridge traveled to Flagstaff on two buses, the first of two trips the Matadors will make in that manner this season instead of flying.

But the trek didn’t get off exactly as planned.

The Matadors were supposed to leave Northridge on Thursday evening, stop overnight in Laughlin, Nev., and arrive in Flagstaff on Friday.

One of the buses had mechanical problems before departing Northridge, so some players and coaches left on the other bus, pulling into Laughlin about midnight.

The second group arrived about two hours later.

“They put the starters on the [bus] that worked,” senior receiver Drew Hill said. “I lucked out on that one.”

The Matadors returned home after the game against Northern Arizona on Saturday. Their next bus trip is to Cal State Sacramento for a Big Sky Conference game on Oct. 17.