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Hec Edmundson Pavilion Renovation

November 2, 2000

Universities spend big to earn more

Renovations to Hec Edmundson Pavilion are part of a $95 million project to create a village-style athletic complex on the UW campus. The projects are intended to keep the university's athletic programs competitive in the Pac-10 conference.

Across the country, reports the Wall Street Journal, universities are dressing up their sports facilities with expanded seating, new restrooms, parking garages, locker rooms and training facilities in order to attract fans, top athletes and more revenue.

In recent years, over 30 schools have spent a combined $1.5 billion to add 350,000 new seats to their football stadiums.

Recent projects include:

Eleven of the 12 schools in the Big 12 Conference have recently spent, or are about to spend roughly $450 million on 75,000 new seats and other amenities. At least half those schools have also built luxury boxes to pamper their well-heeled fans. The 64 suites opened in 1997 at the University of Texas' Royal-Memorial Stadium haul in $3.6 million a year--about 7 percent of the Longhorns' annual budget.

Even smaller schools, such as Maryland's Towson University, aren't immune to escalating stadium spending. Towson is dropping an estimated $21 million over the next two years to increase its stadium seating to 11,000 from 4,800.


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