Colleges Spent $495.3M On New/Renovated Football Venues For '12 Season

There are seven college football programs unveiling new or heavily-renovated stadiums this season, with a total construction costs reaching $495.3M. The Univ. of California led the way with its $321M retrofit of Memorial Stadium, while TCU spent $105M to upgrade Amon G. Carter Stadium. There was also more than $69M spent on stadium construction at facilities for schools below D-I for '12. When the NAIA Lindenwood Univ.-Belleville (Ill.) football team makes its debut on Saturday, its unique maroon-and-gray striped field will likely garner most of the media coverage. Lindenwood’s EnviroTurf will be one of only four college fields in the country to be a color other than green. Colleges plan to spend $683.4M on new or upgraded facilities set to open for the '13 season, led by the Univ. of Washington's $250M expansion of Husky Stadium, as well as new venues for the Univ. of Houston and Univ. of North Carolina-Charlotte.

NEW/IMPROVED COLLEGE FOOTBALL VENUES FOR '12
VENUE	SCHOOL	COST
Memorial Stadium	Univ. of California-Berkeley	$321.0M
Amon G. Carter Stadium	TCU	$105.0M
Alabama State Univ. Stadium	Alabama State Univ.	$62.0M
Williams Football Stadium	Liberty Univ.	$4.0M
Harlen C. Hunter Stadium	Lindenwood Univ.-Belleville	$2.3M
KCU Stadium	Kentucky Christian Univ.	$1.0M
Lincoln Univ. Stadium	Lincoln Univ. of Pa.	n/a

TREND FOR COLLEGE STADIUM CONSTRUCTION/IMPROVEMENT COSTS
YEAR	AMOUNT SPENT
'14 (projected)	$374.2M
'13 (projected)	$683.4M
'12	$495.3M
'11	$175.8M
'10	$459.9M
'09	$1.1B
'08	$785.1M
'07	$165.6M
'06	$622.2M
'05	$663.0M
'04	$337.2M
'03	$633.8M
'02	$317.3M
'01	$635.5M
'00	$303.6M
'99	$301.9M
'98	$270.0M
'97	$232.1M