Facilities Upgrades and Profit Numbers

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A much-needed facelift for Auburn's north end zone has been a hot topic for the athletic department for years. But it sounds like the concept is becoming closer to materializing, as John Cohen enters his second year as athletic director.

Cohen spoke extensively Thursday about the need for an upgrade on the north side of Jordan-Hare Stadium, including a new videoboard being "priority number one."

"We've had a lot of discussions about this," Cohen said on Tiger Talk, Auburn's in-house radio program. "We're working hard behind the scenes to create a plan. When does it happen? How long does it take once you start? ... We're putting all that together right now. These things don't happen overnight. ... We've got to address some things in the north end zone, and I'm very excited to have the opportunity to do that."

In 2017, Auburn's board of trustees approved a $6.3 million videoboard for Jordan-Hare Stadium's north end zone, which is the lowest of the four sides of the stadium and sits opposite a recently expanded south end zone and the jumbotron. But it was removed from the agenda and ultimately the university’s list of upcoming projects two months later by former Auburn president Steven Leath.

Back in 2015, the board proposed renovations to the north end zone, estimated at $145 million. The athletic department spent $100,000 on the planning process before former athletic director Jay Jacobs put the project “on hold” in 2016.

The previous football season was when Auburn unveiled what was then the largest video board in the country in the south end zone, valued at $13.9 million.

Speaking of Auburn's state-of-the-art jumbotron, Cohen said he's tired of watching Auburn students, who sit beneath it or just beside it in the student section, have to twist their necks around the entire game. If Auburn is going to make the efforts it does on video content for gamedays, fans sitting in the south should be able to look across the way and watch it on another large screen, Cohen thinks.
We've got to do better than that," Cohen said of students being unable to easily see a videoboard in their home stadium. "We have to. We're going to do that. We're going to design a state-of-the-art videoboard in the north end zone that's going to fit in with several premium areas of the north end zone."

Auburn had several architects and engineers accompany Cohen and his staffers to Arkansas last weekend, where they were able to tour DWR Razorback Stadium and jot down some ideas. Cohen said Auburn also has plans to check out Notre Dame's north end zone and Florida State's south end zone in the offseason.

"We're going to really observe this, we're going to make really good decisions, and we're going to move Auburn forward," Cohen said.
Jordan-Hare Stadium's most recent major renovation came ahead of the 2018 season, when the new recruiting center was opened outside the south end zone, along with the David E. Housel Press Box, the team’s locker room was expanded, and two additional levels of club space amenities and lounge spaces were added.

This season, thanks to the addition of some premium seating, Jordan-Hare Stadium's capacity was increased from 87,451 to 88,043.

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