Michigan Wolverines Plan To Widen Tunnel At The Big House: Reports

ANN ARBOR, MI — The Michigan Wolverines football team plans to widen the tunnel at the team's football stadium, according to multiple reports.

The plan to expand access to the tunnel at Michigan Stadium will remove 45 seats from the stadium, reports said. The team, however, plans to add enough standing-room only tickets to keep the stadium's capacity at 107,601.

The university's decision to renovate the stadium comes after a series of altercations between players as they entered and exited the field, including a brawl between Wolverine players and opposing players from rival Michigan State last fall.

The decision also stems from an incident when a fan in the stands at the stadium reached down and touched the head of Michigan State Head Coach Mel Tucker, reports said.

"It’s being done to widen access to the field for the competitors and all the game personnel that enter and exit from the tunnel," U-M athletics spokesman Kurt Svoboda told the Detroit Free Press. "Our goal obviously is to ensure that safe and healthy environment for everybody who has to have access to the field."

The Big Ten criticized Michigan for failing to "provide adequate protection for personnel of both home and visiting teams when entering and leaving playing arenas." The conference also fined Michigan State $100,000 for its role in the stadium tunnel altercations.

After a shouting match between Wolverine players and Penn State Nittany Lions players in a game last at the Big House, Penn State Head Coach James Franklin said there should be some kind of buffer to separate the players when heading to the locker rooms at the same time.

The Wolverines did keep its players and staff separate from the opposing teams' during the final two games of last season at Michigan Stadium.