It just means more, bitch.

Just another day in the life of an SEC academic institution…

One week after Auburn president Steven Leath said there would be no discussion of a football facility at the board of trustees meeting, the board told him they want the facility and directed him to form a review group immediately. Gus Malzahn also spoke. https://t.co/13N30cbZxk

— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) June 7, 2019

Trustee McCrary, who is from Birmingham, noted that the project is needed to support “our team” as well as “our coach” and Auburn. The athletic department and Tigers Unlimited are currently raising funds for the project, which is estimated to cost between $60-$80 million to have a facility competitive with other programs around the Southeastern Conference. AU officials have not given any specific numbers on how much money has been raised, but sources tell Inside the Auburn Tigersa significant portion of the amount needed for the project has been pledged.

If you’re not spending, you’re not supporting.

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“Joiner is the second player from Urban Meyer’s 2007 team to be…”

All publicity is good if it is intelligent. The thought behind the proverb had been expressed earlier by Oscar Wilde: The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. … There’s no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary. — P. T. Barnum

P. T. never met the 2007 Florida Gators.

Premium seating when you’re not in the big leagues

Greg McGarity does not approve of this.

The hostile nature of Apogee Stadium led Conference USA to move to a hard-line stance on student seating back in 2014, banning those fans from sitting directly behind an opponents’ bench.

North Texas athletic director Wren Baker confirmed Saturday that league officials have voted to reverse course and will allow students to sit in those premium seats.

Hell, approve?  I doubt he even comprehends it.  Why would you give up selling seats in a primo location like that?

Former UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal lobbied against C-USA’s restriction on student seating being enforced in 2014. He saw seating students in the premium seats behind the visitors’ bench as an opportunity to put the most enthusiastic fans in the most visible of locations for television games and as a way to secure future fans.  [Emphasis added.]

That’s a different sort of home field advantage, I guess.

College football’s new math

This is what you get when you combine not having to pay the hired help much and Nick Saban getting tired of students leaving games early:

Alabama has talked about the fan experience for games quite a bit since athletic director Greg Byrne arrived in Tuscaloosa a few years ago but the school is trying to take things to the next level in their upcoming renovation to their historic home of Bryant-Denny Stadium.

To that end, the school’s Board of Trustees approved a slate of updated plans on Friday to the venue according to the Birmingham Business Journal. While some of the changes are understandable, perhaps the biggest update that occurred this week was with the price tag — which is increasing from around $75 million to just under $93 million.

The entire project is set to begin after the upcoming season at home concludes and will hopefully be wrapped up by the time the 2020 campaign begins in August.

As previously noted, capacity is still on track to dip below the 100,000 mark but some of the changes the board approved included a different scoreboard setup, a host of suite upgrades and an entirely different look for the student section areas (out goes a terrace, in comes new “social spaces”).

Almost $100 million to be spent to reduce stadium seating and add suite upgrades.  You’d better get used to it, fans.  It’s the future.

Fulmer Cup winner

I ask you, who among us hasn’t had a “disagreement over tacos when they got into a mutual altercation” moment?

“It ain’t going to be easy, just like middle school.”

I’d make fun of Tennessee getting a verbal from a 14-year old, except I notice he’s got an offer from Georgia, too.

Instead, I’ll settle for noting once again that this is a perfect case for Andy Staples’ “it’s binding when both sides agree” scholarship proposal.