It seemed like South Carolina was on the cusp of major Williams-Brice Stadium renovations — billed by the university as a “major modernization” of the home of the Gamecocks.
South Carolina had put in a formal “Request for Information” (RFI) about the project and athletic director Ray Tanner was dreaming about everything bound to happen.
More premium seating. Massive upgrades. Development of over 800 acres of university-owned land that was going to funnel revenue back to USC.
It’s been over 20 months since that announcement with little tangible progress, save for a Request for Proposal (RFP) in June.
That’s likely to change on Friday.
The South Carolina Board of Trustees will meet at noon with a notable action item labeled “Phase 1 Approval of Williams-Brice Stadium Development Project.”
Phase 1, according to a university source, relates to renovations inside of Williams-Brice Stadium.
That is noteworthy only because there was some thinking that South Carolina might kick-start construction with the undeveloped land outside of Willy-B, possibly opting into a land-lease deal with contractors and turning the area around the stadium into something akin to The Battery Atlanta — the lively area outside of the Atlanta Braves ballpark with hotels, restaurants, shopping and more.
Instead, it is likely the Gamecocks will first attack premium space, possibly the drastic lack of suites inside Williams-Brice Stadium.
As detailed a few months ago, South Carolina is losing potentially millions because the Gamecocks’ football stadium has 18 premium suites all on the west side — and only 14 of which the university makes money on.
For reference, Clemson has 95, Texas A&M has 140, Georgia has 86, Florida boasts 80 and Kentucky has 67.
Each USC suite is currently priced at nearly $85,000 annually and requires a $31,500 donation to the Gamecock Club. That means for every new suite it builds, South Carolina essentially makes $116,000.
Extrapolate that to 45 new suites, which is in the realm of possibility, and South Carolina is all of a sudden generating over $5 million more in annual revenue.
So why did this take so long?
There are a few different reasons, some political. One major hurdle was State Bill 314, which declared that no university athletic department in South Carolina could have outstanding bonds (debt) over $200 million. South Carolina, according to those with knowledge of the situation, could not undergo massive construction without going over the threshold.
But in mid-July, Gov. Henry McMaster signed into law an amendment that increased the debt limit to $500 million.
“The debt limit got lifted,” Gamecock Club President Wayne Hiott told The State in June. “So there’s a path (to renovations), but there’s all sorts of different hurdles in the way. You wanna make sure you’re doing right by your fan base.”
In the months after the debt limit was increased, South Carolina conducted market research, inviting fans to fill out surveys about what they care about. “Bathrooms and concessions are at the top of the list,” Hiott said. But, also: Are you interested in a suite? Would you be interested in a field-level suite? Would you pay $50,000? Would you pay $75,000?
“Three-hundred-million dollars seems like a bunch of money — and it is — but it doesn’t do all the things we need it to do,” Hiott said. “So how do you use it in a way that you can invest and then use the returns on that investment on everything else that you wanna do?”
