The latest South Carolina Athletics facilities improvements took a big step forward today! Both the new softball stadium and the football videoboard projects are cleared for construction to begin after they earned final Phase 2 approval from the state Budget & Control Board Thursday.
While a completion date cannot be certain at this point, the department hopes to be able to complete the video board project in time for the 2012 football season.
"We are extremely appreciative of the support we've gotten for some of our facility initiatives, especially the video board because it means so much to many of our fans," said Athletics Director Eric Hyman. "A lot of people assisted with this process and we're very grateful for their help. It's a great day to be a Gamecock."
The new softball stadium will be built in its current location. It's another piece of the overall Athletics Village at the Roost, currently anchored by the Dodie Anderson Academic Center, the Coaches Support Building currently under construction, and the soon to be complete tennis complex.
The indoor football practice facility also advanced in the approval process earning Phase 1 approval. Phase I is initial approval for the project to be researched further (e.g. hiring an architect to develop plans). Now that the project has Phase I approval, the university will move forward with selecting an architect, who will develop a plan and verify the initial estimate before the project is ready to go back through for Phase 2 of the approval process.
All images are conceptual renderings and subject to change.
While a completion date cannot be certain at this point, the department hopes to be able to complete the video board project in time for the 2012 football season.
"We are extremely appreciative of the support we've gotten for some of our facility initiatives, especially the video board because it means so much to many of our fans," said Athletics Director Eric Hyman. "A lot of people assisted with this process and we're very grateful for their help. It's a great day to be a Gamecock."
The new softball stadium will be built in its current location. It's another piece of the overall Athletics Village at the Roost, currently anchored by the Dodie Anderson Academic Center, the Coaches Support Building currently under construction, and the soon to be complete tennis complex.
The indoor football practice facility also advanced in the approval process earning Phase 1 approval. Phase I is initial approval for the project to be researched further (e.g. hiring an architect to develop plans). Now that the project has Phase I approval, the university will move forward with selecting an architect, who will develop a plan and verify the initial estimate before the project is ready to go back through for Phase 2 of the approval process.
All images are conceptual renderings and subject to change.
love the pictures of our new video board and softball stadium . it looks great!
This is ridiculous! That video board is a way to "buy off" the fans. The fans want the stadium expanded and match the South End zone and raise the capacity to 90,000 or more... Not a video board. But instead of doing this the right way, they chose to go the cheaper route to fill the empty space above the student section. I'm disappointed in this decision by our athletic department!
Sorry to hear you feel that way, Adam, and you're certainly entitled to your opinion. However, I think the majority of fans are beyond excited about getting a new video board. It is something that has been desired and repeatedly asked for by the fan base for years and was definitely needed and warranted. I'm so thrilled that we will have a new, state-of-the-art video board in Williams-Brice!
You know if they expanded they would have new and bigger video boards put in the corners of the Stadium so you should be excited about that as well. Why short change the fan base.
Adam,
We don't have enough people attending our home games to fill 90,000. How often are we currently selling out Williams Brice at 80,000? 1-2 games a season?
The new video board is long overdue and will be a fine addition to Williams Brice Stadium that the fans have been starving for. Kudos to the Athletic Department for choosing quality or quantity for Williams Brice.
I gotta agree with Adam. Video boards are nice and competitive and all that, but we need more seats. Bryant, I do see vacant seats now, but that is because season ticket prices went through the roof a couple years back. My father had season tickets for 50 years, and when the price doubled, he had to quit. That year, for the first time, we were not selling out every game, usually before season start. Now the only people attending are either wealthy, or corporate gift folks who are not fans, leaving the real fans at home. Drop the video board, lower the ticket price to a real fan's price, and expand seating to make up the difference. Go Cocks.