AUBURN, Ala. (AP) - An Auburn official says the university is holding off on renovating the north end zone of Jordan-Hare Stadium until at least 2018.
Athletic director Jay Jacobs made the announcement regarding the delayed project, which is expected to cost more than $140 million, Al.com (https://bit.ly/2fgRoCr) reported. The construction is expected to include an expanded concourse and walkway, club seating, a new video scoreboard, a recruiting lounge and a new locker room among other amenities.
The renovations were first proposed in May 2015 with the hope of construction beginning at the end of that season.
Jacobs said he doesn’t want to disrupt anything for Auburn, which has seven home games this season against Georgia Southern, Mercer, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Georgia, Louisiana-Monroe and Alabama.
“It is not dead,” Jacobs said prior to his meeting with the Montgomery Quarterback Club. “We’re continuing to work on that and we still have the same goals in mind. We want to create a great fan experience, we want to have a great place for our football team to play and a great experience for our recruits. When we get a package ready to present to the Auburn family and they think that renovating the north end is ready to go, we’ll do it.”
Jacobs said they have gotten a “very positive” response from a 2015 survey to gauge interest from about 5,000 accounts through Tigers Unlimited about the project. Auburn has yet to determine whether it will be financially feasible.
“There are certainly some that we have to be sensitive to because there are some families, some of our grassroots donors and grassroots fans that have been sitting in the north end zone for quite some time,” he said. “We have to make it where it’s good for everybody. Sometimes that’s hard to do, but we’re smart enough and we can figure that out.”
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