Facility improvements on forefront of Georgia Athletics minds
ATHENS, Ga. — While changing its policy on alcohol sales was the biggest thing to come out of the Georgia Athletics Association Board of Directors meeting on Wednesday, facilities talk would easily be 1b.
Athletics director Josh Brooks explained to members of the board and those in attendance that the last three years have been a significant stretch for Georgia Athletics. Of course the performance on the field/court has been excellent, but investment in improving facilities has been noticeable as well. In that span, 15 capital projects have been completed or put into progress with $284 million committed to these projects.
Sanford Stadium, Stegeman Coliseum, Foley Field and several others have seen some sort of investment and improvement. Concourses have been expanded for football fans while the basketball and baseball side of things have been more athlete-focused with renovations to locker rooms, weight rooms, meeting rooms, training rooms and more. Don’t forget about Jack Turner Softball Stadium construction, expected to be completed in Fall of 2024, the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Tennis Facility (set to open this month) and the revamped Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall Circle of Champions for Bulldogs to come celebrate the success of the athletics program over the years.
Next on the agenda: more work to be done at Sanford Stadium and in Stegeman Coliseum. Phase 2 of the improvements to the South Side of Sanford began after the completion of this past football season in November, and they are scheduled to be complete in August. Brooks also revealed more details on a Stegeman Coliseum master plan which includes work to be done on a new scoreboard, plus improved audio and lights. Should it be approved for funding, that would take place no sooner than after the 2024-25 basketball season is over. Foley Field also has a second phase to its renovations that will include a pitching lab, hitting facilities and slightly expanded seating – set to be completed this time next year (Winter 2025).
A self-proclaimed track nerd, Brooks is quite possibly most excited about the plans to build a new track and field complex on South Milledge just across the street from the current facilities for softball and soccer. Preliminary plans are on plot of land already owned by the University with an 18-acre state of the art setup that’ll allow track and field to host all events, including shot put and other throwing sports, within an arm’s reach while still out of the way of the actual track. Grandstands alongside the track would seat 2,000-2,500 with space for bleachers to be added for SEC and NCAA championship events seating up to 5,000. Furthermore, the facility would be lighted, allowing for night meets to occur in Athens.
Numbers on funding requests are not yet finalized for the track facility – something Brooks says he hopes he’ll bring to the board later this spring – as the concept design process is still in progress. Estimated time frame for the enabling project is summer or fall of 2024 with need to “move dirt” on the currently vacant property. An area would also be flattened to allow for future building of an indoor facility beside the outdoor one.
Coinciding with the movement of track down South Milledge would be changing over the current space into more practice fields for the football program, planning to build those parallel to each other to create a shorter amount of distance to be travelled allowing for more efficiency at practice. Those plans were announced in May with the initial mention of the improvements/movement for the track facility.
