(Tucson, AZ) Bill McCulloch
The Lohse Press Room was all a buzz with anticipation of what would be discussed by Atheltic Director Dave Heeke for the upcoming 2018-19 school year.
The University began the presentation with the announcement of beer and wine sales at Arizona Stadium and McKale Center.
This was fan driven and way overdue to enhance the fan’s experience at both athletic venues. Sales will start on September 1st kicking off the home football schedule against Brigham Young University.
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Hi Corbett Field where the Wildcat Baseball team plays already offers beer and wine sales.
Exact areas of consumption will be tightly controlled and the time of sales will cease sometime during the third quarter. Not every concession area will offer alcohol.
This was conveyed as not necessarily a “profit making” venture, but how can it not be a profitable addition to the Athletic Department.
Schools like Ohio St, USC and SEC Institutions have all seen huge profits in offering beer and wine at their respective athletic sites. Now three dozen universities sell beer and wine at their stadiums including three other Pac-12 Schools (ASU, WSU and OSU).
This should also drive season and single game ticket purchases. Prior to this upcoming football season, many fans would not enter the stadium but rather stay in the tailgating area on the U of A Mall, where alcohol consumption was allowed. That in itself may put up to an extra 10,000 people in the stands guaranteeing more revenue.
Football season ticket prices have also been lowered and now start at $70.
New construction in the lower eastside student area will now allow all fans to access and enter the stadium. New restrooms and concession stands will be added. Completion should be ready by the opening game.
Another long overdue perk is credit cards will now be accepted at all concession stands. The University is also looking into offering a larger variety of food, including local food vendors.
The Hillenbrand Aquatic Center is a fifteen million dollar project that will include a total rebuild of the fifty meter swimming pool to a longer sixty five meter pool. Short Course Lanes will also increase from eighteen to twenty two for the twenty five yard lanes.
Behind the scenes improvements will include an upgraded pump and plumbing infrastructure and also new filtration systems and an enlarged storage.
The completion date is by January of 2019.
To the north, the Rita Hillenbrand Softball Stadium is having a complete makeover of the Press Box and existing seating areas. This will slightly decrease the seating capacity as a whole but will include premium club seating, new dugouts with restrooms and new ticket and souvenir stands.
The cost of this project is slated at eight million dollars. Ticket prices are expected to increase to help offset the renovations.
The Indoor Sports Center will be home to several Arizona Sports Programs as well as serve as the game day hospitality area. The cost of this newly constructed building is eighteen million.
Built on the site of the former Kindall-Sancett Stadium, the past and present will be commemorated by honoring these two coaching legends. Final details are still not finalized.
Inside, the new practice field will be ninety yards long with a ten yard end zone. It’s climate controlled and will be used primarily for training and conditioning as well as other opportunities.
Inside the McKale Center, there’s more construction going in the lower concourse with the old academic and lab areas. New state of the art locker rooms are being built for the men’s golf, women’s soccer, men’s tennis and women’s track and field.
Other current locker rooms are in the midst of being renovated for women’s swimming and diving and the men’s track and field teams.
The cost is nearly two million on this project. Completion date is next month in August.
All the building and renovations are a part of the Capital Campaign, which is a multi facility project.
Every one of the twenty one sports programs will benefit from these projects.
