UGA athletics board OKS $90.2M for two projects

Football fans to get 200 new toilets at Sanford Stadium.

Sanford Stadium is adding more than 200 toilets.

The UGA Athletic Association board of directors Thursday approved $90.2 million for two new construction projects, one to widen the southside concourse and add a vertical tower at Sanford Stadium and the other to build a new indoor court facility at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

But it’s the addition of more than 200 toilets at the football stadium — the vast majority of them for women — that will likely be best received by Bulldogs fans. That has long been a complaint for UGA patrons attending games at the 92,726-seat stadium.

Matt Brachowski, UGA’S associate athletic director for facilities, said the lower-level southwest corner of the stadium has not undergone extensive infrastructure improvements since the original facility was dedicated in 1929. Construction in that area, which will begin immediately after the conclusion of the 2022 season, will widen the original 10½foot South 100 concourse to 23 feet and, in the process, add 81 additional toilets in one new women’s bathroom alone. The project also will add 48 men’s toilets and three family restrooms to that end of the stadium.

Of course, more bathrooms were a mere fringe benefit of the massive construction project, which will be undertaken simultaneous to an ongoing project at the chemistry building immediately behind the stadium paralleling Field Street.

The primary impetus was to move media out of their current location. The Dan Magill Press Box, which extends between the 30-yard lines on the South club level, will be converted to premium-seating space for donors. Reporters will be moved to the top of a multistory tower in the southwest corner. Restrooms and concession areas for the 300 level also will be included in the new addition, which will be connected to Gillis Bridge via a plaza featuring a new gate for entry and exit.

The Bulldogs announced the football stadium project will cost $63.5 million to complete and the indoor tennis facility will cost $27.6 million.

Ford Williams, UGA’S associate AD for fundraising and major gifts, announced a new five-year, $300 million fundraising campaign for UGA athletics will launch this summer. Williams said the Bulldogs have raised more than $200 million to fund athletics construction projects in the past five years through the Magill Society donor group. Williams said the indoor tennis project already has been fully funded through donations and pledges.