Somebody’s about to spend some money.
The University of Georgia is planning a major, and expensive, structural change to Sanford Stadium, which will be presented at a meeting Tuesday of the athletic board.
The project is expected to include moving the locker rooms to the west side of the stadium, and adding a recruiting room next to the locker rooms. UGA athletics director Greg McGarity will make a funding request to the board about the project, according to an agenda of the meeting, which begins Tuesday afternoon.
The cost of the project is unknown.
Is the project fan friendly? You know, the people who actually pay to use the place?
As for the west end zone project, there are plans and documents, which are scheduled to be presented at Tuesday’s meeting of the UGA athletic board, and may already have been viewed this past week at a meeting of the finance committee.
The construction project includes the recruiting room, long sought by Georgia coaches, first Mark Richt and now Kirby Smart. Smart has mentioned that the current locker rooms, located on the east end of the stadium, are the same ones he dressed in as a player in the late 1990s.
The recruiting room would then be adjacent to the new locker rooms, which would make it more convenient for coaches.
Yeah, yeah, we get all that. What about us?
The project would also include improvements to public restrooms and other facilities close to the west end zone area.
Lucky ducks. Sometimes in life, it’s not what you know, or even who you know. It’s if you’re located close enough to the right people.
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UPDATE: The check has been presented. $63 million and it’s yours. And it wouldn’t be a major undertaking for the Georgia Way without this:
The UGA athletic board on Tuesday approved an overhaul to the west end of Sanford Stadium that athletics director Greg McGarity said would “not exceed 63 million.” But the school plans on fundraising the vast majority of it.
The board approved a plan to raise $53 million from private funds, which the rest coming from the athletic association’s reserves.
Wallets out, peeps. We must defend this reserve fund!
Get The Picture 
So will the team run out from the west end then??? What about the UGA statue?
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For some reason, I am still continually amazed about the absolute turtle pace we move at on facilities, and how cheap we go, all on things that are bound to happen anyway. Of course, we will have a bake sale to raise 10% of the total cost anyhow. I wish we would just suck the egg, and do it already. Nope, got to have a bake sale, have to have approvals from the overlords, have to have meetings, and more meetings, and more plans and more time.
le sigh.
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Run like a true corporation. Let’s have a conference call to discuss the informal meeting that will prepare us for the actual meeting.
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Actually Randall, it’s the opposite of the way businesses run, and that’s the problem. OPM (other people’s money). Same problem at every level of government.
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I think you missed my point. I was commenting on Chuckdawg’s observation of how slow these things move, which is similar to a corporation and the endless meetings that they have instead of making a f’ing decision. I wasn’t comparing the way corporations raise money by selling widgets vs a government entity or an AD spending OPM.
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Soil samples are scheduled for 2020-ish.
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I’m willing to send in my stool sample right now.
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No need to send stool samples, many are likely still floating around in North stands bathrooms and can be obtained on site.
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+1
I guess I just want an excuse to mail my poop to Butts-Mehre.
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I double dawg dare you. How’s that?
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The Georgia Way.
See: HWY 316
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Location, location, location
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The upgrades will be all the soap and toilet paper dispensers will be refilled before the season starts. If extra cash is left over new urinal cakes will be installed, that is totally dependent on donations towards the project.
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I’ll donate more if McGoob’s face is on the urinal cakes.
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I guess porta potties will be answer for north side 300 level. 😦
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Preliminary excavations discovered some leftover Posse’s bbq which will be offered to select fans this season.
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Bobby will love that!!
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Can we get done drink cups that don’t smell like azz?
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Snarkiness aside, where’s the beef? Give us specifics. The South side Bathroom situation is abhorrent, as are the concession setups. I truly believe that Cousin Eddie will be closer than his sarcasm portrays.
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Agreed, waiting for renderings of the changes, we need details. Our seats were on the Southwest so we often used the tunnel to get in and out. How will this impact stadium entrance exit?
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I can imagine now scenario in which this project doesn’t dramatically worsen the process of getting into and out of the stadium. As popular as the large gate under the west endzone stand is, eliminating even a portion of it will make it harder to get in through ANY of the gates, as it will force foot traffic elsewhere.
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*NO scenario. Wish we could edit our comments.
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It was the end zone or the gate the up hill from where Lewis Grizzard would tailgate just south of the bridge and we know how crowded it gets walking in the south side of the stadium at the top of the 100 level seating.
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Don’t matter to the powers that be. They have a private entrance with elevators.
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My seats are in the same area (136) and I use the west entrance under the bridge, concessions, and when absolutely necessary the rest room there.
I “think” I saw on one of the articles about this that there will still be a public entrance on the west side, not sure exactly where though.
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As the article states, they can’t give us anything because the athletic department won’t release it, despite the fact that it has been well over the new “Kirby rule” 90 days since the FOIA request. Want answers? Demand them of McGarity.
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I’m surprised they’ve allowed the 600 level staircase to remain a total eye sore all these years. When it was first completed in time for the ’03 season, upon initial glance in person I thought, “huh — looks like an unfinished project…surely they’ll probably finish that off after the season.” In ’06, a CU friend I took to the UGA/buffs game said ‘Sanford was the most beautiful stadium…but man that thing (pointing to the staircase) is hideous.’ Yet here we are in 2017, and there it is just sitting there in all its weathered, cinder block esque glory.
For an otherwise beautiful stadium, again I can’t believe they’ve allowed it to just sit there all this time with no improvements. It would be akin to living in a perfectly maintained muti-million dollar home with an empty, algae ridden pool in the backyard that the skater kids up the street like to sneak in and use when you’re not at home.
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I agree lt looks bad, but it is a utilitarian piece of architecture. In your opinion what would enhance it’s appearance? Paint? A new facade? Graphic panels?
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I’m not a designer or anything of the sort, but I’d suspect some brick or stone work of some sort could do wonders. We certainly don’t want to go the cheesy banner route like SCU likes to do at WB Stadium, but surely that can be enhanced without a ton of expense.
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The Tech Deck ruined the aesthetic.
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Agree, tear it down.
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Gonna take one heck of an architect to design anything substantial in such a tight space. The bridge, Tate center and west end zone seats are a lot to work around not to mention the ingress and egress for fans.
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“…not to mention the ingress and egress for fans.”
Yeah, about that – sacrifices will have to be made. 😉
I will say that I have never sat in the West end zone, ever, unless you count watching from the bridge back when you could still do that. So, I didn’t kow they even had restrooms there. Isn’t that where the high dollar visitors get stuck (600 level=visiting students)? We’re fixing their restrooms? This aggression will not stand, man!
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I suspect that open concession area under the bridge and behind the west end zone seats will be altered significantly. This would be the easiest place to build some fancy stuff.
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Gotta get those West side bathrooms looking better for the families of recruits.
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^^ This is so true
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The same locker rooms as in the late 1990’s? Quelle Horreur!
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Hell man – there are puddles of piss in the bathrooms next to Section 304 older than that.
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Today’s GTP winner!
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Yeah I was thinking the same.
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Just re-purpose the BOOKSTORE and have them walk across the bridge, through the turnstiles, down the stairs and over the hedges already.
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Get those Hartman Fund donations in folks! Tomorrow is the deadline!
As always, thank you for your support of UGA athletics.
Greg
P.S. The bathroom and concession situation isn’t that bad. I think some of you just like to complain. And if it’s that important to you, consider helping us start up a fundraising campaign to address whatever it is that you think needs to be done.
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When I was in grad school back in 2010 I saw drawn up plans that I presume were from B-M of an addition to the 600 section that enclosed to upper east side of the stadium and basically connected the current 600 section to the box suites. As I recall they would pull it off by putting a tunnel over the section of East Campus Rd that runs next to the stadium, and building the addition up from there. Anybody else know anything about that?
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Here’s a post about it from 2008. I wonder if the plans got tabled after Evans got canned. http://georgiasports.blogspot.com/2008/09/uga-unveils-new-gojillion-athletic.html
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Sounds good, get rid of the granite bulldog jinx of a statue while you are at it.
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Hate to be a dick…maybe not, really…. but they already lost me as far as attending games. I don’t care what they do. I have discovered that my easy chair in front of my big screen TV is the best seat in the house. The beer is cold in my ‘fridge and the price is right. The food is exactly what I want and I don’t have to stand in line. And I don’t think I am the only one who feels this way. Make sure you get some more Wi-Fi access and louder piped in music McCheap. That’ll get the fans to flock in.
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This^^^^. Gave up season tickets in 2014 after 20 years. Don’t really miss it that much.
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Like you, I already gave up the season tickets. Oddly enough, for many, many years the comments about what fans actually want have been remarkably consistent. Yet those issues are never addressed. And they wonder why attendance is dropping and newer students seem uninterested. Plus, what fans want is really, really simple to do and not prohibitively expensive. Give us clean, spacious, convenient restrooms. Have decent concessions available at reasonable prices being sold by professionals who know how to use a cash register and deliver customer service. We don’t want to stand in line for an entire quarter waiting to get a coke. Just these two things would alleviate 85% of all fan aggravation. Toss in an actual traffic plan that makes sense and a little more hospitable attitude towards tailgating and the Athens game day experience would rival any in the nation. It’s not rocket science and it doesn’t have to be expensive. Just thoughtful and intentional.
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Don’t forget quit losing to Tech at home.
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Yeah, well, that too.
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The time and era where is was a good idea for non-profits to man concessions has come and gone. If supporting local charities are that important, donate some of the reserve fund. Not reason for such poor service at concessions. I cannot think of another stadium that continues this practice.
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more free labor, unless you are a B-M lifer you shouldn’t profit from anything.
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I like to hit a game or two a year….not a huge tailgater, just his a nice place downtown..checking out the Coeds is worth the hassle.
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Are they moving the visitors to the West side, as well? If so, why?
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That would be a real Georgia thing to do: have our players enter and exit the field in front of our visitors’ seats.
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This is an excellent idea. We want to let our visiting fans know that they’re welcome in Sanford Stadium. We’ll add this to the plans.
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I was talking about the locker room. It is not clear
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The west restrooms are the largest public restrooms at that end of the field and the only lines that move during the game.
Don’t reduce them or do the construction during football season.
Don’t screw this up.
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Something tells me you’re going to be 0-2 on requests. I’ll guarantee it will spill into football season and it will probably reduce the number of restrooms.
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Overall restrooms and concession stands will increase most likely, will be construction during the season for sure.
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A line that moves just about guarantees a need for improvement
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I agree. These restrooms are convenient and the concessions move relatively fast. I go down from my 100 North level seats to go here rather than up and face that tight quarters and long lines.
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Saw the video preview of the design. The enclosure goes all the way back to the bridge.
It is much needed, considering the state of the home ‘locker’ room and the portable seats the recruits sit in now.
Great to see the commitment to catch up with the rest of the league, regardless of the funding source.
I just hope they remember the fans when they plan the construction project.
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Our seats were in the east end zone and brother, 5 o’clock in September it do get hot. I don’t do crowds, I don’t like to stand in line. The blister packs of liquor took all the challenge out of smuggling it in.
On the bright side, my son transferred to UGA this year, his 14 yo brother and he are planning to attend a few and are very excited. Pop and I were smart enough to hold on to the tailgate spot, close enough to hear the crowd. I’m digging sitting in the shade with my RSC and the bulldog announcers on the radio. Plus, the scenery is never bad outside the stadium.
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“the cost of the project is unknown”???WTF!!!
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What the F did the million bucks go to if not getting at least an estimate of the costs as well!
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Don’t worry. Mexico is paying for it. Trust me.
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$60 million ish..
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“Somebody’s about to spend some money”. That “somebody” is you, my friends….
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I’m getting pretty tired of y’all picking on our AD. What he needs is a PR campaign .
…and instead of or addition too the bake sale, earmarked for bathroom improvement only-
http://www.peepeeface.com
Go Dawgs!
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There fixed it.
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The following quote is one major reason I read your blog Senator: “Lucky ducks. Sometimes in life, it’s not what you know, or even who you know. It’s if you’re located close enough to the right people.”
That one had me rolling with laughter. Too bad the statement is true.
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$60 Million
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Hey: If we are going to redo the west end and the scoreboard has to be moved, lets increase the size of same and get better quality speakers that don’t distort when turned up.
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Done, the info is out there..
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When the current Uga dies, don’t replace him. Just tack the latest Reserve Fund financial statement to the front of the little red dawg house. That’s our true mascot.
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Speaking of facilities, the IPF opened today.
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Will the band and student section be shifted to the western end of the North side, thus shifting the visiting team band and players’ parents to the lower northeast corner where the visiting team enters the field?
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In other news, McG basically told Seth that those of us in other areas of the stadium who want better concessions and bathrooms are just gonna have to bend over…
I cannot believe it would cost more than $100,000 per bathroom and concession stand to make some improvements, which adds up to a few mil for the lower level…
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Seth said fans would just have to hold for while longer. Classic.
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There are better info/pics out there…
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per Seth Emerson’s article on the bathrooms…
“Why not go with a big master plan, as some other schools (like Clemson) have done?”
McGarity pointed to a master plan that did exist in the late 2000s, that included an indoor building further off campus. He also pointed to a plan he saw in 1999 that had an indoor facility being built right on this spot.
“You prioritize stuff as they become important,” he said. “A master plan, it probably touches every facility that we have. So there’s a lot of other projects for other facilities that are in a master plan. But a lot of things are important as we go on, and some things rise to the level of importance.”
And for now, bathrooms in areas other than the west end zone don’t reach that level of importance. Fans will just have to hold it a bit longer.
That quote from McG might be the stupidest non-answer I’ve ever heard. Dude is a total moron, and clearly didn’t want to come out and say, “Yeah, we’re not touching the bathrooms,” even though that’s exactly what’s going on. Words can’t describe how incompetent this man is. Complete lack of vision beyond the $$$
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