The University of Richmond boasts a lovely campus. The school presents programs enjoyed not only by students and faculty but by the general community. Richmonders attend concerts and lectures at the U of R; they root for the Spiders in football, basketball, and other sports. The university is a private school with a public profile -- and a good and valuable neighbor.

We welcome its plans for an expanded stadium to provide on-campus football.

The environs express understandable concerns. Roads such as River and Three Chopt lack wide shoulders; congestion already frustrates residents. The area's non-school traffic management does not always win all-American recognition, either. (We will not now mention the discarded beer cans and bottles that seem to proliferate among nearby streets when the young scholars are in town -- a situation that has little to do with football, in any case, and which is common to the nation's esteemed institutions of higher learning.)

The new stands would accommodate about 8,700 fans (the adjacent Robins Center offers about 9,000 seats for basketball and other indoor sports). This is Richmond football, not Michigan, Notre Dame, Tennessee, or Penn State. The U of R's experience with basketball and other large gatherings suggests it can handle the flow. Indeed, although football likely would generate a greater per-game average attendance than basketball, schedules would show far fewer home games for football than for basketball. Moreover, kickoff generally occurs during the afternoon, while tipoff occurs in the early evening. Basketball traffic is more likely to complicate rush hour than is football traffic. The project could become a vehicle for infrastructure improvements generally.

The stadium would stage certain night events as well. The good news is that technological advances associated with the expansion would make lighting less intrusive than it is now. Westhampton would not resemble the land of the midnight sun.

The university has gone to great lengths to listen to citizens, to explain its intentions, and to learn. Spokesmen for local homeowners say they are not opposed to the stadium expansion; they want to make sure it is done right -- which is the way it is being done.