The University of Georgia Athletic Association’s board of directors took action Friday on two issues of major interest to Bulldogs fans: football ticket prices and a much-discussed indoor practice facility.
The board voted to raise ticket prices next year and again two years later, and to spend $400,000 to study the design and location of an indoor practice facility for football and other sports.
Tickets for home games in Sanford Stadium will increase from the current $40 to $45 next year and $50 in 2017. And ticket prices for the annual Georgia-Florida game in Jacksonville will increase next year to $70 for regular seats and $110 for club seats, up from the current $60 and $100.
The lack of an indoor practice facility has been a hot topic around UGA athletics for years, often raised by fans and occasionally by football coaches, players and recruits. Friday’s action officially moved the needle toward the possibility of building such a facility.
The board voted unanimously in favor of spending $400,000 from reserve funds to hire architects “to determine not only the conceptual design of the facility, but … also (to) help determine the most feasible location.” The facility “will serve all outdoor sports as a secondary location for practice in the event of inclement weather,” according to the motion passed by the board.
UGA athletic director Greg McGarity cautioned in an interview later that “many, many” steps remain before “any decisions are made” to proceed with construction. But he said, “We’re going to get the process started and get this thing moving.”
“It’s extremely important,” said Chris Conley, a wide receiver on the football team and a student-athlete representative on the Athletic Association board. “In order to compete with the best, you have to have the best facilities. And you can’t waste days (to inclement weather) when you play football at this level.”
McGarity said two general locations will be examined for the facility: the area that includes the football team’s outdoor practice fields near the Butts-Mehre building and the area near the softball and soccer facilities off South Milledge Avenue. He all but ruled out the possibility of relocating the track-and-field venue to make room near Butts-Mehre, saying that likely would quadruple the cost.
The facility would be approximately 75-100 feet high, 70 yards wide and 140 yards long. Georgia doesn’t have a cost estimate, but McGarity noted several schools have spent about $15 million on such projects.
He said funds would have to be raised from private donations and “from what I’ve been told” a lot of people have expressed interest in contributing.
The facility would benefit other sports in addition to football, McGarity said, particularly track, baseball, softball and soccer. “It … probably will be used more by those teams than football.”
On another matter, McGarity said he’s working to line up more high-profile non-conference football games for later this decade and beyond. He wouldn’t name possible opponents.
“The excitement the Notre Dame games (scheduled in 2017 and 2019) have generated has been phenomenal,” he said. “If there are other traditional locations that make sense — the iconic stadium, the iconic programs — that is what we want to do down the road.”
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