Arkansas Athletics Director Jeff Long said Monday that determining whether the Razorbacks keep playing at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock after the current contract expires will be "a difficult decision to make."
After speaking to a crowd that included Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson at the Little Rock Touchdown Club luncheon Monday afternoon, Long said there was no immediate timetable on the impending choice. The Arkansas football team is under contract to play one game in Little Rock each season until 2018. The Razorbacks play Alcorn State at War Memorial Stadium on Oct. 1.
“Either way it goes, it will be difficult,” Long said in front of fans. “We’ll have to face that at some point. That’s what leaders do; we’ll face that question.”
Long then mentioned that he hadn’t begun discussions with Kevin Crass, the chairman of the War Memorial Stadium Commission, on if the Razorbacks would keep playing there. He also added that it would not be his decision alone.
As for the expansion of Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, which was approved by the university's board of trustees last week, Long said construction will begin after the Hogs host LSU on Nov. 12. Construction will continue through the 2017 season, but Long said it won't affect the existing seating. The expansion is scheduled to be finished by the 2018 season.
The university plans to up the stadium’s capacity to around 76,000 by September 2018. The expansion will add more seating — of the premium, loge and club varieties — and a new video board at the south end, as the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported.
"I certainly hope this state doesn't turn the decision about Little Rock [and] about adding to [Razorback Stadium] into a great stadium debate," Long told the crowd, saying the university needs the support of the entire state. "To divide makes no sense to me."
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.