In Tampa, Joey Knight writes USF in November '17 announced plans for its new football center, but when it will formally announce a ground-breaking "remains anyone’s guess." USF AD Michael Kelly yesterday said that the school has received $18.4M in commitments for the center, which is "less than half" of its projected $40M cost. The goal is to reach $20M "by June 30, the end of USF’s fiscal year." The center remains the athletic department’s "top fundraising priority" (TAMPABAY.com, 5/7).
KEEPING UP WITH THE TIMES: Virginia Tech AD Whit Babcock said within the next year the school plans to begin a "comprehensive capital campaign to renovate and improve Cassell Coliseum." He said the biggest priorities are "modern amenities." Babcock: "Opening up the concourses a little bit. Point of sale. Premium seating. Club seating. Concessions. Beverages. Lots of things we can do. So we think Cassell is uniquely Virginia Tech and don’t want to change that. But [there] hasn’t been a ton done to it since 1965, and it houses four of our sports" (THEATHLETIC.com, 5/3).
HEARING AID: Oregon is "planning to upgrade the sound system at Autzen Stadium," which "drew scrutiny" during the football team's spring game. Oregon AD Rob Mullens said, "We have been looking for the last two years at a sound system upgrade but when we started digging into it and seeing the costs we started looking at a bigger project that maybe we should consider because our video board is getting old." Mullens said that the east end of Autzen Stadium "would be 'ideal' for the new video board." He said, "It’s risky to put out a number, then it’s a number people get locked into -- we’re probably in the $12 million range" (Portland OREGONIAN, 5/7).
