FAYETTEVILLE - The University of Arkansas unveiled its long-awaited athletics facilities master plan Tuesday, a three-decade proposal that will cost more than $300 million to construct.
Among the items listed in the plan are an expansion to Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, a basketball practice facility and a combined indoor workout facility for baseball and track. The university will also consider tearing down Barnhill Arena and replacing it with a new 5,000-seat facility that will be home to the school’s volleyball and gymnastics programs.
In all, the university is planning to build new facilities or upgrade existing ones for all 19 sports on campus.
“This really is a vision,” Arkansas athletics director Jeff Long said. “It’s what could happen over the next 5, 10, 15, 30 years into the future. There are many things that are unknown, but this is a plan to help move our program forward.
“This is a very ambitious plan.”
RELATED VIDEO: Jeff Long – Facilities Plan
The most notable expansion listed in the proposal is one to Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, which would add around 5,000 mostly club seats to the north end zone. The stadium, which was built in 1939, last received a renovation a decade ago with the addition of 16,000 seats.
Like with most items listed in the plan, there is no timetable for the construction, though Long said it would be after the construction of the school’s new $35 million football operations center. The ground will be broken for that facility on Nov. 4 with a completion date expected some time in 2013.
Before then, the stadium will receive at least one multi-million dollar upgrade. Its video board, added in 2000, will be upgraded to high definition for the 2012 season, Long said.
The 107-foot by 30-foot board was the largest in the world at the time of its construction. The current video screen is considerably larger than those dimensions. Long said the new one will be larger but will still fit inside the current frame.
An underground parking deck is also noted in the plan in Lot 44, immediately north of the football stadium.
The basketball practice facility has been high upon the athletic department’s wish list for some time. Arkansas is the only school in the Southeastern Conference without such a venue and the proposed building would open up Bud Walton Arena for more use, such as concerts.
The proposed facility would include two courts for men and women, new coaches’ offices, training facilities and a museum. The site for the project is on Leroy Pond Drive, across the street from Bud Walton Arena and next to the university’s softball stadium, Bogle Park.
“It’s a missing piece to our game plan for Razorback basketball – men’s and women’s – to be successful,” Long said.
The plan also calls for renovations to Bud Walton Arena. Among those are widening tunnels to equip more semi-trucks for loading and unloading, and widening the arena’s concourse levels.
The combined baseball and track facility would be built adjacent to Baum Stadium and the Tyson Indoor Track Center. It would be used for indoor baseball practices during inclement weather and for throwing events for indoor track and field.
“The thing the baseball team needs to get better is the indoor facility,” Arkansas baseball coach Dave Van Horn said. “It’s a really, really nice facility and the price is up there on it.
“To have that facility would be something that would help catch us up with some of these other schools that have indoor facilities. It’s something we need in the worst way.”
Arkansas also plans to add more suites to Baum Stadium, bringing the total to 44. Additionally, a center field entrance would be built to the complex and a 360-degree concourse area.
“Wrapping sky boxes around left field and right field, and being able to walk completely around it like you can at South Carolina – the drawings are beautiful,” Van Horn said. “I’m sure it would be tweaked a little bit, but it would solidify this ballpark.
“If I came on a recruiting visit to that facility that I saw on paper, I’m not going to tell you no.”
Combined, all projects listed in the master plan will cost the athletic department nearly $328 million, according to estimates. That price does not include the proposed parking deck for Lot 44 or the conversion of Bud Walton Arena.
You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.
Go Hogs! I don’t mind my ticket prices going up to help fund these improvements. Go Hogs!
This is great for Hog fans. It will create some jobs, so, it’s also good for the country. One issue: the new seats look orange in the picture.
it also should make for some Top Notch Recruiting.
Wow! Everything looks great! Hope we get started soon on these things. The Walton’s, Tyson, and jb hunt need to break off some serious dough. We have more money in this one small part of the state than probably anywhere else in the world. It’s time our university reflects that. Our basketball arena even reflects the biggest company’s name they should take pride in improving that sports facilities. I love how there has been so much excitement with people about our university and wanting to help it become as beautiful as it should be. GHG!!! WPS!!!!
I would like to see us sell out more than two games a season consistently before undergoing a large football stadium expansion. It looks cool, though.
My wife and I have been to 7 of the SEC home stadiums (all but Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky and LSU, and we’re going to LSU next month), and so far I can honestly say that nobody has a nicer stadium than we do. Granted, some of them are bigger and some have newer renovations, but none are as nice on the outside (Neyland Stadium is hideous looking), none have the foot court and none have the wide concourses. Taking it further, no one has the concentration of first-rate athletic faciities like we do as you walk north down Razorback Road. Maybe we don’t have the biggest stadium, but in my book we have the nicest and we should all be proud of that. If we can improve on them and these planned improvements become reality at some point, we will have the finest facilities in the nation. (But I do miss Barnhill Arena though….)
AWESOME!!!
The hog in the middle of the field looks tiny from the aerial view. They should enlarge it to extend to the 30 yard lines on each side of the field! WOOOO PIG!
Doesn’t seem like roughly 400 mil would be that hard to overcome, to make Arkansas the top athletic facility school in the country within 10 yrs. Just set a priority list, and knock em off one by one. I mean Arkansas is not lacking people with a few dollars, Wal Mart is doing pretty good in this borderline great depression.
I mean if this takes 30 yrs as some project to complete, by the time you complete it, it will be time to start over again..LOL..
Where the heck are they gonna get that much money? I can’t see it happening.
Where are they going to get that much Money you ask Talor,Let,s see just for starters,WAL MART,JERRY JONES,TYSON,S,STEPHENS,just those four alone could do it buy their self if they wanted to,but their will be more than just Them.
Sure they could. But they could have done so for the past 20 years if they wanted to. Will they now?
I have read several stories on this but I haven’t read anything about the football stadium’s capacity when they enclose the endzone. Whether it is more people or the endzone’s design, I hope it increases deicible levels inside the stadium. I am not knocking NWA fans because god knows they represent in “The Bud” but that stadium is just not loud. I DVR’d the Vanderbilt Haloween game from last year and you can regularly make out single people cheering from the stands.
Something that is a concern , the family who donated the land for the stadium made it a condition that the south enzone remain so the mountains would be visible from inside the stadium. Could someone file a lawsuit to stop the renovations? The 1930′s were a longtime ago but so were the 1800′s and they still sell tax-free tobacco.
My bad! I meant, the 1800′s were a long time ago but on reservations they still sell tax free tobacco.
ok, to answer my own question after paying closer attention to the drawings, the new endzone bleachers aren’t that much taller than the Broyles complex. You can still see the mountains.
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