In Knoxville, Rachel Ohm in a front-page piece reports a $106M renovation project for Neyland Stadium at Tennessee was "given preliminary approval by the State Building Commission." The project will be the "first of three planned phases of renovations at Neyland and will focus on renovations of the south and west sides of the stadium." The project "must clear five stages of approval from the State Building Commission, the first of which easily passed on Thursday" (Knoxville NEWS SENTINEL, 8/11).
PLANS IN MOTION: Texas Tech AD Kirby Hocutt said that he "anticipates making an announcement soon regarding a proposed basketball practice facility directly across the street" from United Supermarkets Arena. Hocutt said that he is "projecting" the facility will cost $23M. He "declined to say how much fundraising is still needed." Hocutt: "We’ve had significant success, but yet still quite a ways to go. But we’re excited about working on that and seeing that come to reality in the next 18 to 24 months" (LUBBOCKONLINE.com, 8/10).
TURTLE RACE: In Baltimore, Don Markus noted Maryland "disclosed on its website" that the cost of Cole Field House renovations had increased by more than 25% to $196M. A university spokesperson confirmed that the $41M increase in the overall cost of UM's new football practice facility was the "result of the expansion in the scope of the project’s second phase," which is expected to be completed in '19 (Baltimore SUN, 8/9).
