The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sanford Stadium set for additional upgrades
Notre Dame game was a catalyst for more improvements.
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Georgia brought back much more from Notre Dame than a onepoint football victory last fall. Josh Brooks, the Bulldogs’
deputy athletic director for operations, gave the UGA Athletic Association a slideshow presentation of addi
tional improvements beyond the multimillion dollar West End enhancements coming to Sanford Stadium this fall. And Brooks credited Georgia’s experience playing the Fighting Irish in South Bend for several of the concepts being implemented.
One has been the advent of the Silver Dawgs, a group UGA-associated retirees who will serve as home- game weekend hosts this fall. Based on Notre Dame’s “Usher Corps” that demonstrated tremendous hospi- tality for visiting Bulldogs fans last fall, the group had a “very successful” trial run at the G-Day game in April.
The latest idea, though, will manifest itself in aes-
thetic improvements at Sanford Stadium this season. In an effort celebrate Georgia’s rich history in football, the Bulldogs will utilize new paint and cutting-edge graphics to bring life to areas of the stadium previously adorned only in “drab battleship gray.”
“We witnessed a lot of things at Notre Dame last fall about how they celebrate their history,” Brooks told the board last week. “That got us to thinking about how we could celebrate our history and also warm up the stadium at the same time. So we’re going to try to dress up some of those concrete, gray areas we have.”
Brooks showed a huge graphic of Herschel Walker running the football with an inscription of Larry Munson’s famous words “My God He’s a Freshman.” That artwork will be placed on one wall on the corner of the South side concourse. There also will be painted likenesses of players in full uniforms representative of their respective decades on support posts in
the Gate 6 entrance area off East Campus Road. The covers of team programs for the corresponding year of every Georgia team in history will be painted on support col- umns on Reed Plaza.
That’s just one small proj- ect among numerous substan- tial projects on which Brooks updated the board. Another was the $63 million construction project at Sanford Stadium, which will add a new locker room and recruiting lounge behind the West End grandstands. Another is a proposed $23 million reno
vation and construction project that would add six indoor courts to the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. There also are recently completed expansion projects for the Boyd Center for men’s and women’s golf, the equestrian center and Stegeman Coliseum.
UGA President Jere Morehead and Athletic Director Greg McGarity lauded the Georgia people for stepping up with donations to fund these projects. McGarity said the Bulldogs already have received $71 million in pledges — mostly coming from members of the relatively new Magill Society — toward the $93 million in football projects.
“There’s a strong commitment by our supporters of the football program, but winning helps,” Morehead said after the first of two days of meetings with the board. “…
But keep in mind, we’ve still got to collect on all of those
pledges. We need people to pay up.”