Prairie View A&M makes investment

At a time when many historically black colleges and universities are struggling financially, Prairie View A&M is investing in its athletics program.

The school opened a 15,000-seat football stadium in 2016 that includes a 55,000-square-foot athletics administration building at a cost of $60 million. Prairie View’s stadium was built so that it could expand to 30,000.

“Indeed this is truly a momentous occasion for the entire Prairie View A&M University community,” university president George C. Wright said at the time of the announcement in 2014. “Alumni, students, faculty and staff wanted a state-ofthe-art, first-class facility that was worthy of our beloved Panthers, and we all worked together to make the dream come to fruition.”

UNLV faced the Panthers on Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium. The Rebels will get their own shiny new stadium in two years when they move into the Raiders’ building near the Strip. They also are building an on-campus football facility that will be completed next spring.

Prairie View has a rich football history, having won 11 Southwestern Athletic Conference titles and five Black College National Championships.

The Panthers, however, are under new leadership. Coach Eric Dooley was Grambling State’s offensive coordinator the previous four seasons, and he took over a Prairie View program that went 6-5 last season.