Trustees to vote on adding seats in UA stadium

FAYETTEVILLE -- Final approval to expand Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium will be up for a vote Thursday at a meeting of the University of Arkansas System trustees.

Backers of a plan to add mostly premium seating say the renovation is vital, but one trustee has questioned the importance of the $160 million project among other higher-education priorities.

The 72,000-capacity stadium hosts Arkansas Razorback football games at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and was last renovated before the 2001 football season.

Stadium capacity would increase to approximately 76,000 if expansion is approved, according to the most recent details from UA. The renovation -- the most expensive construction project in campus history -- would increase stadium-wide seating in suites by about one-third to approximately 2,700 seats. It also would add more club seats and what are known as loge boxes, a type of semiprivate, open-air premium seating.

The 10-person UA System board is to consider the stadium resolution -- the only action item on its agenda -- on the second day of a two-day retreat at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain near Morrilton.

"This project is about the fans of Razorback football," UA System President Don Bobbitt wrote in a letter to trustees recommending project approval. "The guiding force behind the project design and scope is the development of seating types and amenities that fans are asking for, as well as updating areas of the stadium that have not been touched since the last major stadium project more than 15 years ago."

Former U.S. Sen. David Pryor, now on the UA System board, has said he will not support the expansion.

"I think we have higher priorities than a football stadium, and it's not to benefit students," Pryor told the Democrat-Gazette in April. "I just do not think this is the right time to do it."

Pryor spoke after receiving a letter written by UA Chancellor Joe Steinmetz in response to 33 questions that Pryor had asked about the project. Steinmetz wrote that the project "is not only important for the future of the University of Arkansas, but also for the continued economic and cultural growth of our state."

Bobbitt's letter to trustees states that Steinmetz is requesting "final approval" for the expansion. The letter was released Tuesday in advance of the meeting, along with a four-page Capital Project Proposal Form.

Approval of a $120 million bond issue will be requested at a future trustees meeting, the proposal form states. The form indicates that the bond issue's principal and interest payments are to be covered over 20 years using athletic revenue.

UA's athletic department will pay $10 million for design and pre-construction work, according to the proposal form, which states that the final design and cost estimates remain under development. Another $10 million in funding has been approved from reserves of the Razorback Foundation, a public fundraising organization that supports UA athletics.

Roger Noll, a professor emeritus of economics at Stanford University, said a $120 million bond likely will require annual payments in the range of $8 million to $9 million over 20 years, assuming an interest rate in the range of 3 percent.

Told of UA's plan to use stadium revenue to cover the costs, Noll said: "The issue really turns on whether the fan base will support it."

In 2014-15, UA recorded $3.8 million in revenue from suite ticket sales for six home football games.

The Razorback Foundation has apparently found takers for some of the proposed suites.

"The Foundation also has received commitments of $20M for new suites in the stadium," the proposal form states.

This year UA raised prices for existing premium seats. This fall, season ticket prices for suites will increase by $300, now $2,100 or $2,400 depending on the location.

Season tickets for many, though not all, club seats also increased in price, with the largest price increase for south outdoor club seating. The price for those seats increased to $850 from $600 a year earlier.

For nonpremium seating, season ticket prices increased to $360 from $300 for lower-level seating but decreased to $250 from $300 for upper-deck seats.

The north-end expansion includes adding a 1,500-person capacity "roof deck" area, part of a plan to add standing-room-only seating. A UA website about stadium expansion describes standing-room-only tickets as part of a plan to offer "diversified" pricing.

As a part of the north-end expansion, plans call for the addition of about 1,200 club seats and approximately 475 suite seats. Plans also call for about 350 loge box seats.

Another 300 seats in new suites to be called Founders Suites on the east side of the stadium are also considered part of the expansion, with approximately 630 club seats eliminated as part of the renovation.

Athletic Director Jeff Long described Founders Suites in a January letter to the board of trustees as having "the highest level finishes and most desired location for suites."

The expansion and renovation also involve rebuilding the Frank Broyles Athletic Center, which would be torn down from its current location at the north end of the stadium and rebuilt in the same area. The center houses administrative offices.

Plans also call for new stadium elevators in the northeast and northwest corners of the stadium to serve existing suites and upper-level seating; a new video board at the stadium's south end; and a new game-day locker room, training room and other rooms for the football team.

A "look-in opening" in the stadium's northeast corner would remain, but patrons could walk around the stadium via a new connection between the north end and east and west concourses.

UA released the design details in April as part of its response to questions from Pryor, who also asked about additional seating for students. The university said there would be no additional seating for students.

The university's athletic department reported overall revenue of $101.1 million to the Arkansas Department of Higher Education for the 2014-15 year and expenditures of $90.6 million.

Long told trustees in January that he hoped the project could be finished in time for the 2018 football season.

Information for this article was contributed by Aziza Musa of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Metro on 06/15/2016