University of Wisconsin Associate Vice Chancellor of Facilities, Planning and Management Alan Fish will ask the UW System Board of Regents May 6 for permission to use $7.8 million more for the second phase of Camp Randall renovations, none of which would come from taxes.
This additional funding will bring the entire football-stadium project cost to a little less than $107 million.
Fish said the increase in cost could partly be attributed to the rising prices of production materials, namely structural steel. He added the new costs may also spring from recent increased awareness of the project’s complexity.
The expense for Phase II of the project was originally estimated about three years ago at $4.5 million less than the current estimates.
“That’s where we ran into higher bids than anticipated,” Fish said.
The second phase of the project includes the expansion and renovation of the lower west concourse, stadium-bowl seating changes and cross aisles for better circulation and fan safety, field lighting and renovation of the press box.
Major construction for this stage of the project is planned to start at the conclusion of the Badger football season in November and conclude in August 2005.
The remainder of the $7.8 million will cover the demolition and renovation of the third-level east concourse, which was not in the original proposal.
“The Athletic Department feels that it is critical to complete this part of the project because of the additional restrooms that it will provide as well as much-needed space on that side of the stadium from a safety and security standpoint,” the funding request said.
Fish said the Athletic Department has already sold all of the luxury box seats, and the department will have the funds to pay for the new renovation requests without taxpayer aid or dipping into UW’s general fund.
Facilities must, however, ask the Board of Regents for permission to use the money, even if the project is self-sustaining, Fish said.
Fish said Phase I of the renovation of the near-century-old Camp Randall is meeting its goals.
“The Phase I part of the project … [is] all on schedule to be done by August (2004),” Fish said, adding that students and Badger fans will be able to come back to the stadium for game days.
Some of the phase’s renovations include two new video LED scoreboards and expanded offices for coaches and staff, a project Fish said is ahead of schedule.
Though the additional stadium project funding will be raised internally, Associated Students of Madison Academic Affairs Chair Ashok Kumar suggested the university should look toward academic goals rather than athletic ones.
“When classes are being cut at such a drastic pace, athletics should take … a secondary role,” Kumar, a UW freshman, said. “I think that education should be the first criteria when they look at where money should go.”
Kumar suggested some of the money the Athletic Department raises should be dispersed throughout the academic departments, even though the Athletic Department is self-sustaining.
