I’m strongly in support of the new stadium at Colorado State University.

But I also realize different opinions are genuine, so I usually lay back when the debates rage. At least until someone trying to pile on the arguments says “and Hughes Stadium is so wonderful.”

Whoa.

When all of us who live here show off this great place to live we, roll out Old Town, the Oval, Horsetooth, maybe even Moby (the inside needs work but the quirky architecture is fun and on campus). What doesn’t make it the cut is “and look at majestic Hughes Stadium.”

When we moved here 13 years ago I was taken aback by the Hughes layout.

Like some shunned child banished to the wilderness, it plops on barren plain so close to the Front Range, you can’t appreciate the Front Range. The parking area looks like Death Valley.

If the new stadium gets built on campus, I believe the tour for visitors will get a new star on the list, as in “here is our campus stadium, you ought to see this town on game day, and the views of the Front Range are spectacular.” You could even do a tour using nothing but the new Mason Street Corridor.

So let the debate roar — without making Hughes something it most assuredly is not.