In DC, Mark Giannotto reported Virginia Tech athletic department officials on Saturday "made public their plans to add a new, and even more costly, amenity to the school's athletic campus." The school is "forging ahead with plans to construct a new on-campus indoor practice facility to be used primarily by the football team." Virginia Tech Associate AD for Internal Affairs Tom Gabbard said that plans "call for the entire project to cost $25 million." The projected price "includes a renovation of Rector Field House, which was built" in '71. Gabbard said that the school "will settle on a design consultant in September." From there, "several teams of architects and builders will be enlisted to come up with proposals and they would have 90 days to present their plans to a committee of school officials." Construction, however, "will not begin until the $25 million is raised" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 8/7).
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North Texas' new football stadium gaining national
attention for eco-friendly features |
TEXAS-SIZED BUZZ: In Ft. Worth, Diane Smith noted construction of the Univ. of North Texas' 30,000-seat football stadium "is complete," and the $78M project has "generated national buzz with eco-friendly features." UNT AD Rick Villarreal said that "much of the stadium's buzz centers on three 150-foot turbines that will be installed this fall." The wind turbines "are expected to inject about half a million kilowatt-hours a year into one of UNT's power grids." Smith noted the stadium also has "21 private luxury suites, about 750 Club Level seats -- complete with food and beverage service -- 16 concession areas and a team store" (STAR-TELEGRAM.com, 8/6).
HIGH SIGN: In Newark, Tom Luicci reported High Point Solutions' "imprint will soon be prominent throughout the former Rutgers Stadium as well as on signage on the roads leading to the Scarlet Knights' home field." High Point in June reached a 10-year, $6.5M deal with Rutgers for stadium naming rights, and has "agreed to pay Rutgers an additional $75,000 for all the sign changes." A Rutgers spokesperson said that work on the "sign changeover will start shortly and is scheduled to be completed in time for the Sept. 1" season opener against North Carolina Central Univ. (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 8/8).
THINKING BIG: ACC Commissioner John Swofford, when asked when the conference will be ready to determine Bank of America Stadium's future as host of the league's football title game, said, "Sometime around that game. It could be during that game, it could be shortly thereafter, and would need to be no later than shortly thereafter because you need a significant lead time into wherever you’re going to be, whether it’s remaining in Charlotte or doing something different." He added, "The real key is Charlotte being able to continue to sell the tickets locally. Last year they sold about 30,000 tickets, which was an excellent first year. We’d like to see that grow in the second year and I think it’s fair to say that if we had a second year that was similar to the first, we would be returning to Charlotte, and I think it’s fair to say it’s something we want to see happen in Charlotte" (ESPN.com, 8/8).
