UGA develops plan on expanding Sanford Stadium

Athens — A master plan commissioned by the University of Georgia athletics association shows how the school’s sports facilities could be transformed over the next 10 to 15 years.

No decision has been made at this point to go forward with any of the potential projects, but the 16-month study by the Boston-based architectural and planning firm Sasaki Associates presents a tantalizing lineup of possibilities:

• Expanding Sanford Stadium to more than 100,000 seats — without fully enclosing the West end zone.

• Expanding and renovating — but not replacing — Stegeman Coliseum to widen concourses and add restrooms and other amenities, keeping seating capacity the same.

• Tearing down the current baseball stadium and building a new one on the same site, with more amenities and concourses.

• Building an indoor practice facility for football.

• Replacing the current indoor tennis facility with a larger one.

• Renovating or replacing the current track-and-field facility.

All of Georgia’s intercollegiate sports facilities are touched upon in the study, which was submitted to the athletics association on Wednesday.

“It basically serves as a vision and a guide,” Georgia associate athletics director of internal operations Arthur Johnson said. The study does not include cost estimates or prioritize the possibilities. More detailed plans would be needed before any specific project would be approved.

“Everything would be studied on a case-by-case basis,” Johnson said. “At the end of the day, it would come down to funding.”

The study shows how Sanford Stadium could gain about 9,000 seats and 26 suites without fully enclosing the west end, which the school made clear to Sasaki that it wants left as is. Seats and suites could be added atop the east end-zone sections and, to a much lesser extent, on the south side, the study shows. Seating capacity could be raised from the current 92,746 to about 101,700.

Four on-campus college football stadiums currently seat more than 102,000 — Penn State’s, Michigan’s, Ohio State’s and Tennessee’s.

Meanwhile, the UGA athletics board has approved an additional $1 million to continue work on previously announced schematic plans to expand the football facilities at the Butts-Mehre building. Training and strength and conditioning areas would grow.