Football Financings
August 27, 2013 11:41 AM
The college sports arms race has brought unprecedented spending on football stadiums in the National Collegiate Athletic Association over the past decade. Currently, more than $3.3 billion of stadium projects have been recently completed or announced, including the $450 million remodeling of Texas A&Ms Kyle Field, the most expensive stadium project in collegiate history. The Texas A&M University System plans to issue $350 million of taxable and tax-exempt revenue bonds for the project Sept. 4.
After construction is completed in time for the 2015 season, Kyle Field will rank as the largest stadium in the Southeast Conference, surpassing the University of Tennessees Neyland Stadium by 45 seats. Texas A&M also claims the most expensive ticket in the SEC for the 2013 season with at an average of $204.11.
After $136 million of remodeling from 2004 to 2010, the University of Tennessees Neyland Stadium ranked as the largest in the SEC with a capacity of 102,455. With the Tennessee Volunteers losing seasons, attendance at home games has fallen, despite innovative stadium features such as a climate-controlled concourse and other new technology.
The University of California equipped the home of the Golden Bears in Berkeley to withstand an earthquake as part of a $321 million bond program. The 90-year-old Memorial Stadium, modeled after a Roman coliseum, sits astride the Hayward Fault. In the Berkeley tradition, protesters spent 19 months in trees seeking to stop the project. Despite criticism about the university taking on debt to support a football program that often tends toward mediocrity, the Golden Bears enjoyed rising attendance with the stadiums opening in 2012.
The University of Southern California in June announced that it would spend $70 million over the next decade renovating the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum that serves as home field for the USC Trojans. Plans call for concrete repair and rehabilitation of the bowl, restoration of the classic Olympic peristyle, 92,000 new armchair seats, new press box/suites, new concessions and restrooms, new video, scoreboards and sound system. As the site of summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984, the 90-year-old Coliseum, jointly owned by the city of Los Angeles and the state of California joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. In 2013 dollars, the Coliseum cost $12.9 million to build in 1923.
After a $110 million renovation in 2001, the Razorbacks stadium is under consideration for up to $95 million of more upgrades as part of a $321 million master plan for sports facilities. As one of the more competitive teams in the SEC, Arkansas enjoys a dedicated fan base.
The University of Missouri, which joined Texas A&M in moving from the Big 12 Conference to the SEC in 2012, plans to add 6,000 seats to its 71,004-seat Memorial Stadium in Columbia as part of a $72 million program. The stadium added a $5 million north end zone scoreboard measuring 30 by 80 feet in 2009 with updated video capabilities and new sound system.
In 2011, the University of Arizona announced a major remodeling project and expansion of its stadium in Tucson. The $72 million project includes a new north end-zone with premium seating and fan amenities, relocate and provide new facilities for the football program and provide new concourses cross connecting access to the east and west stadium seating sections.
The University of Arizonas stadium remodeling project is expected to be ready for the 2013 season.
At $250 million, the University of Washingtons stadium remodelinging project is among the costliest in the nation. Two years after breaking ground the Seattle home of the Huskies is set for opening this season.
Baylor University will have its home stadium on the Waco campus in 2014 when its $250 million stadium project reaches completion. The stadium will be linked to the campus by pedestrian bridges over the Brazos River.
Despite all the new competition, the University of Michigans stadium will remain the largest, with an official capacity of 109,901, even though actual attendance averaged more than 112,000 in 2012.
