Sanford Stadium's seating capacity will be temporarily reduced to about 78,000 for Saturday's G-Day game because of ongoing construction that will close nine sections of west end-zone seats for the day, according to UGA executive associate athletic director Josh Brooks.
That still sounds like ample capacity for a spring-football intra-squad game, right?
Even if it is well below the 93,000-plus that Georgia drew for the game two years ago at the behest of then-new coach Kirby Smart.
Last year’s G-Day crowd was considerably smaller, although still robust at a UGA-estimated 66,000.
G-Day admission is free. But to ensure Saturday’s crowd remains within the stadium’s temporarily reduced capacity, the UGA Athletic Association will distribute passes with assigned seating sections as fans enter the gates. UGA is prepared to issue up to 78,000 passes.
By the Bulldogs’ Sept. 1 season opener, construction will be complete, and Sanford Stadium’s capacity will return to 92,746, give or take a seat or two here or there. That has been the stadium’s listed capacity since 2004.
“As you change the vomitories (in the west zone seating sections) a little bit, the goal was to maintain the seating count or keep it right within a hair shot of the same,” Brooks said.
Fans attending the G-Day game will get a first look at Sanford Stadium’s new and upsized video board. The 52-foot-high, 100-foot-wide screen has been installed behind the west end zone and will be in use for the first time.
The large screen is a small part of a $63 million construction project that will add a new locker room for the Bulldogs, a recruiting lounge, two plazas and expanded concession and restroom facilities, all on the west end of the stadium.
The video board is the first part of the project to be operational, and the rest is on schedule for “substantial completion” by mid-July, Brooks said.
> Click here for a full story on the new video board and the construction project.
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