Stadium expansion approved by BOT

Yeah I like those renderings better. More in keeping with what is already built.

Any type of time frame in place yet?

Do tell

Long said construction will be complete by the 2018 football season.

LINK /

This reason gave me a laugh.

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Not one student has contacted me to express support for this project. To the best of my knowledge, not one student organization, alumni group or chapter, or booster club has voiced support for the North End expansion. To the best of my knowledge not one sport writer or newspaper has endorsed this expansion.

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If only Kappa Sigma and Otis Kirk had signed off on it. Nevermind the fact that the University surveyed the folks that actually buy tickets to the game and the response was for it. No that never happened because a select group of folks didn't email Pryor directly about it.

He also went in hard on the social justice issues of the renovation to tug at the heart strings of folks. Damn those people that made money and want to spend it on entertainment if everyone can't can't enjoy it equally.

quote:

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In fact, there are no general admission seats added — but only some 3,000 "special seats" for those fans in upper income levels.

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My favorite part was the whole we could use this money for academic buildings and teacher raises. As if there was a pool of money just lying around and the football program is stealing it. In reality though the $160 million isn't going anywhere if it isn't to the stadium.

quote:

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... We have just raised tuition, thus adding to the backbreaking debt load our students and their families bear. With state funding for higher education stagnant, where do we get the dollars for future classrooms for the fast growing student population? How do we equip our labs and find scholarship support? Can we continue being in last place in faculty salaries, according to the Southern Regional Education Board (176 southern states)? Are we to accept as a given fact that we are 45th in the nation of those states with the lowest percentage of college degrees? And is our answer to these and many other questions going to be, "Let's use our resources to add 3,000 luxury boxes and high end seats for our football stadium?

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They're trying to make it sound like the academic side of the university is tied to the same pool of money as athletics. However it's two separate things. The argument might hold water when the AD stops making money and asks for money from the academic side instead of giving it to them.

I would guess the long game here by them is going to try and get more of that SEC money from the AD once it really starts to roll in. Completely my opinion of course but that's just the vibe I get when they start trying to blur the lines like this between academics and athletics. Pryor shouldn't be too upset though because he can most likely use this decision as leverage to get some of that money.

I really like this last set of renderings.

If the finished product looks like that we'll have a very nice complete stadium to be proud of.

I believe they upped it 3.5% for 2016-17