\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe University of Florida is planning the most expensive \u2014 and potentially most comprehensive \u2014 stadium renovation in college football history, a $1.45 billion overhaul of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium that school officials believe will nearly double annual revenue from their \u201c$75 million ATM machine.\u201dThe Gators unveiled renderings and details of the burgeoning project at a board of trustees meeting Thursday, providing the total budget (up from $400 million) as well as a start date (2027 offseason) and a completion date (2030 offseason). The board said the transformation will \u201cbreathe new life into one of the nation\u2019s most iconic college football venues and elevate it into the premier collegiate athletic destination that sets the standard for everyone else.\u201d\u201cEvery inch of this stadium is going to be affected,\u201d athletic director Scott Stricklin added.Florida started looking at ways to upgrade “the Swamp\u201d in 2018. The process was delayed by COVID-19 and ended up morphing into a \u201c50-year solution\u201d instead of a \u201cshort-term fix,\u201d Stricklin said.Florida generates $75 million a year from the nearly 100-year-old stadium from tickets, concessions, parking and contributions. Stricklin called it \u201ca $75 million ATM machine\u201d and the athletic department\u2019s \u201cmost important asset.\u201dThe remodel is expected to provide \u201ca $65 million lift annually,\u201d bringing total revenue from the venue to $140 million at a time when every dollar matters as the Gators look to better compete in 21 sports.The venture is expected to be funded through a combination of private donations, capital reserves and long-term debt approved by the Florida Board of Governors.The undertaking will revamp 82 current suites, add 63 more atop the east side of the stadium, create additional premium seating areas and install state-of-the-art video boards and audio capabilities. It includes $500 million in deferred maintenance costs, infrastructure improvements and wider aisles and handrails to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.Capacity, however, will remain at 88,548 despite losing thousands of seats in the lower bowl. New suites will make up the difference, and all of those premium areas \u2014 current ones are behind glass \u2014 will be open air.\u201cI don\u2019t think holistically it will change at all,\u201d Stricklin said. \u201cOur tagline for this is going to be, \u2018Bigger, Better, Louder.\u2019 More structure is going to hold in more sound. This is going to be a louder environment.\u201dFlorida annually ranks as one of college football\u2019s toughest places to play. And the Gators vowed to keep intact as much of what makes the Swamp unique: the orange wing walls and a bowl design that includes a below-ground-level playing surface.Florida officials toured Fenway Park, Wrigley Field and Lambeau Field to find a landing spot between preserving the past and modernizing for the future. The Swamp\u2019s design ended up mostly resembling what took place at Lambeau in 2012-13, where the Green Bay Packers kept the lower bowl intact and built above it.\u201cIt\u2019s a big checklist of what we\u2019re trying to accomplish,\u201d Stricklin said. \u201cI\u2019m very excited because I think when people walk in it for the first time, they\u2019re going to be blown away, and the money\u2019s going to seem very well spent.\u201dStricklin said recent projects even remotely close to Florida\u2019s scope include Texas A&M\u2019s $450 million overhaul to Kyle Field in 2013-14 and Penn State\u2019s $750 million renovation to Beaver Stadium that\u2019s expected to be completed in 2027.\u201cThere are a lot of sponsorship areas that we\u2019ve never really leveraged,\u201d Stricklin said. “I think we can be really aggressive, and this will generate a lot of excitement, not only among fans but also among businesses that want to figure out how to be a part of it. We can leverage that to not only help pay for the stadium, but we can also leverage that for NIL opportunities.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tGAINESVILLE, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The University of Florida is planning the most expensive \u2014 and potentially most comprehensive \u2014 stadium renovation in college football history, a $1.45 billion overhaul of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium that school officials believe will nearly double annual revenue from their \u201c$75 million ATM machine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Gators unveiled renderings and details of the burgeoning project at a board of trustees meeting Thursday, providing the total budget (up from $400 million) as well as a start date (2027 offseason) and a completion date (2030 offseason). The board said the transformation will \u201cbreathe new life into one of the nation\u2019s most iconic college football venues and elevate it into the premier collegiate athletic destination that sets the standard for everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery inch of this stadium is going to be affected,\u201d athletic director Scott Stricklin added.<\/p>\n
Florida started looking at ways to upgrade “the Swamp\u201d in 2018. The process was delayed by COVID-19 and ended up morphing into a \u201c50-year solution\u201d instead of a \u201cshort-term fix,\u201d Stricklin said.<\/p>\n
Florida generates $75 million a year from the nearly 100-year-old stadium from tickets, concessions, parking and contributions. Stricklin called it \u201ca $75 million ATM machine\u201d and the athletic department\u2019s \u201cmost important asset.\u201d<\/p>\n
The remodel is expected to provide \u201ca $65 million lift annually,\u201d bringing total revenue from the venue to $140 million at a time when every dollar matters as the Gators look to better compete in 21 sports.<\/p>\n
The venture is expected to be funded through a combination of private donations, capital reserves and long-term debt approved by the Florida Board of Governors.<\/p>\n
The undertaking will revamp 82 current suites, add 63 more atop the east side of the stadium, create additional premium seating areas and install state-of-the-art video boards and audio capabilities. It includes $500 million in deferred maintenance costs, infrastructure improvements and wider aisles and handrails to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.<\/p>\n
Capacity, however, will remain at 88,548 despite losing thousands of seats in the lower bowl. New suites will make up the difference, and all of those premium areas \u2014 current ones are behind glass \u2014 will be open air.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think holistically it will change at all,\u201d Stricklin said. \u201cOur tagline for this is going to be, \u2018Bigger, Better, Louder.\u2019 More structure is going to hold in more sound. This is going to be a louder environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Florida annually ranks as one of college football\u2019s toughest places to play. And the Gators vowed to keep intact as much of what makes the Swamp unique: the orange wing walls and a bowl design that includes a below-ground-level playing surface.<\/p>\n
Florida officials toured Fenway Park, Wrigley Field and Lambeau Field to find a landing spot between preserving the past and modernizing for the future. The Swamp\u2019s design ended up mostly resembling what took place at Lambeau in 2012-13, where the Green Bay Packers kept the lower bowl intact and built above it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big checklist of what we\u2019re trying to accomplish,\u201d Stricklin said. \u201cI\u2019m very excited because I think when people walk in it for the first time, they\u2019re going to be blown away, and the money\u2019s going to seem very well spent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stricklin said recent projects even remotely close to Florida\u2019s scope include Texas A&M\u2019s $450 million overhaul to Kyle Field in 2013-14 and Penn State\u2019s $750 million renovation to Beaver Stadium that\u2019s expected to be completed in 2027.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of sponsorship areas that we\u2019ve never really leveraged,\u201d Stricklin said. “I think we can be really aggressive, and this will generate a lot of excitement, not only among fans but also among businesses that want to figure out how to be a part of it. We can leverage that to not only help pay for the stadium, but we can also leverage that for NIL opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The University of Florida is planning the most expensive \u2014 and potentially most comprehensive \u2014 stadium renovation in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[127582,127586,55,4169,127585,57559,28,30,29,3111,127583,127584,5204,11685,7781,38765,127581],"class_list":["post-304432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-additional-premium-seating-area","tag-atm-machine","tag-ben-hill-griffin-stadium","tag-board","tag-bowl-design","tag-college-football-history","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-gators","tag-lambeau-field","tag-low-bowl","tag-project","tag-renovation","tag-stadium","tag-stricklin","tag-swamp-makeover"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}