CONWAY, SC (WBTW)- Coastal Carolina’s Board of Trustees met Thursday to discuss expansion of the school’s football stadium and construction of a new soccer complex.
The expansion of Brooks Stadium is a requirement to meet FBS football standards, as the school moves forward with its membership into the Sun Belt Conference. The process will expand the facility to 20,000 seats. School officials estimate the work will cost between $19 million and $25 million, but Vice President of Finances and Administration Stacie Bowie says it could cost more.
“The Brooks stadium sits on a pretty constrained footprint, so you got 544 going across the back, you’ve got the scoreboard across the ends. We need an architect to come in and tell us what we can do, how can we squeeze in the number of seats that we need, then we’ll find out what the costs are going to be,” said Bowie.
The Board of Trustees agreed Thursday to move forward with hiring an architect. News 13 asked Bowie if the board plans to increase tuition to pay for stadium costs.
“Not that I anticipate but again all of the is going to be up to our board once we know how much it’s going to cost,” she said.
The board also discussed building a $5 million soccer complex. The university has already received a donation of $1.5 million. According to Bowie, they plan to ask the Student Housing Foundation for additional funding.
“The Student Housing Foundation Is a separately entity that’s out there to provide funding and support for the university for anything it may need,” explained Bowie.
Athletic Director Matt Hogue says the current soccer stadium needs some serious upgrades.
“Its crucial that we have a new facility because right now we really don’t have any of the typical amenities that are conducive to hosting the fourth ranked team in the country,” said Hogue.
However, some board members said the school should hold off on a new soccer complex and focus on football.
CCU will need to ask the state for permission to hire an architect before they can build anything. They’ll also need the state’s permission to hire a contractor.
