No word on how big ābiggerā will be for Bryant-Denny Stadium
TUSCALOOSA | While University of Alabama President Robert Witt said the universityās growth may make another Bryant-Denny Stadium expansion necessary, UA officials arenāt saying much about what shape that expansion would take.
Witt said growth in the student body could make a stadium expansion and other campus improvements necessary. It would be the fourth time in about the last 20 years that the stadium would be expanded and would probably take the capacity from about 92,000 seats to about 100,000 seats.
University officials are saying plans are too preliminary to discuss in detail.
āWeāre looking at ideas to recommend to the board [of trustees],ā Athletic Director Mal Moore said in a prepared statement. āBut any plans for expansion of Bryant-Denny Stadium remain in an exploratory phase. I understand and fully appreciate the interest our fans have in a potential stadium expansion. But nothing concrete has occurred regarding this issue.ā
The Tuscaloosa News asked UAās athletic and public relations departments how much the expansion would cost, how many seats it would involve, if a feasibility study had been done, if a ticket price increase would be involved and what would become of the electronic scoreboard in the south end zone. Officials responded that expansion plans are too preliminary to know the answer to those questions.
Even as the finishing touches were put on the north end zone expansion last year, university officials hinted that another expansion could come sooner than expected. They also told city of Tuscaloosa officials months ago to make a stadium expansion a contingency in plans for street improvements in the area.
Witt said the expansion would come in the stadiumās south end zone. That is where the large electronic score board, known to fans as the Jumbotron, is located. Any expansion at that end of the stadium would likely require the scoreboardās relocation or removal.
The city of Tuscaloosa has also planned jointly with UA on improvements to Bryant Drive, which runs by the stadiumās south end zone. Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox said university officials told the city months ago that a stadium expansion was possible and to plan on accommodating it in bid alternatives for the work.
āThe Bryant Drive plan has a built-in contingency plan for a stadium expansion,ā Maddox said.
Maddox said he and city officials were pleased to hear talk of a possible stadium expansion.
āWeād view that as positive, he said. āWeād like them to expand it to 200,000.ā
City Engineer Joe Robinson said the expansion would possibly hang over Bryant Drive the way that the stadiumās western upper deck extends over Wallace Wade Drive.
Since its construction in 1929, Bryant-Denny Stadium has been expanded seven times.
In 1987, UA added its first upper deck on the stadiumās west side. The expansion added 12,000 seats and increased stadium capacity to about 70,000. The expansion cost $15.5 million
Ten years later, it added an east upper deck, adding about 13,000 more seats, bringing the stadium capacity to almost 84,000 at a cost of $35 million.
The latest expansion, which opened last year, cost $47 million and brought the stadiumās capacity to 92,138. In addition to more seats, the latest improvements included the plaza outside the north end zone, luxury boxes and other amenities.
UAās Five-Year Facilities Development Plan lists a stadium expansion as a possible project. The plan put the price tag at $50 million.