Trustees vote to move forward on Temple Univ. stadium

NORTH PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- About 50 protesters chanted outside Sullivan Hall Monday as the Board of Trustees held a special meeting on a proposed football stadium on the Temple University campus.

The university has been kicking around the idea of building a 35,000 seat stadium in the northwest corner of its campus, just north of the Liacourus Center.

"We have a couple thousand alumni who would love to have a stadium on campus; it's moving Temple into the major leagues," Temple trustee Loretta Duckworth said.

But the idea has not been without opposition.

"I mean it's good for Temple, but I don't think it's a good idea for the people that live in the neighborhood," Sean Pitt of North Philadelphia said.

Campus police had to push back protesters who tried to block people attending the meeting. Others had to push their way through.

The trustees had delayed a vote on the proposal back in December after then mayor-elect Jim Kenney expressed concerns about working with the community.

So on Monday, the board voted to spend a million dollars on a study to assess the community impact.

"Also the safety and everything, we're going to look at it before we have a final plan," trustee Solomon Luo said.

"That's an issue that we certainly want to talk with folks about, we want to go through and find out what's working and what's not working, so that's an important part of the discussion," Assistant Vice President of University Communications Ray Betzner said.

The feasibility study is not expected to be completed until the end of spring. If approved, construction of the proposed $126-million stadium would begin in 2017.