Meanwhile in Alabama....$92.5 million:
Big changes made to Bryant-Denny Stadium renovation plan
Big changes made to Bryant-Denny Stadium renovation plan
The plan and price for renovating Bryant-Denny Stadium has changed significantly since being announced in August.
Out is the large student terrace and large scoreboard that was to cut into the south end zone upper deck, according to documents set to be presented Thursday at a Board of Trustees obtained by
AL.com. Instead, the proposal calls for replacing the four corner video scoreboards with new ones approximately 60 percent larger than the existing ones.
The cost of this stage of renovations is also going up to $92.5 million from the $75.5 million from the original request.
Work on the first stage of the stadium renovation is set to begin after the 2019 season and be completed by August 2020.
The project will be financed through a few different places including $25 million from donations to the Crimson Standard campaign launched when renovation plans were announced last August. The biggest piece of the pie will be $48.4 million in bonds.
Removing the student terrace would have an impact on the capacity of the stadium. It called for cutting out a large portion of the upper deck completed in 2010 and drop the capacity significantly from the current 101,821.
Other changes from the original plan include
-- Putting corner loge box seating at the southwest Level 6 instead of at the south end of the stadium.
-- Building concessions, restrooms, “social spaces” with televisions at the ground level where students enter on the southwest side.
-- Building two new stair towers on the west side for the suites and club levels.
The rest of the plan appears to be the same
from the August proposalincluding building a tunnel from the walk of champions to go straight into the Alabama locker room instead of looping around as it’s currently configured.
The plan will be presented to the physical properties committee at Thursday’s board of trustees meeting in Tuscaloosa. The committee will also hear proposals to revise plans for the $3 million renovation of the softball program’s Rhoads Stadium and the $16.1 million renovation of the Mal Moore Athletic Facility.