UA fails to sway Pryor on stadium expansion

University of Arkansas officials are proposing a renovation to the university’s Reynolds Razorback Stadium to expand the stadium’s north end to add an estimated 3,200 seats, most of it prime seating.
University of Arkansas officials are proposing a renovation to the university’s Reynolds Razorback Stadium to expand the stadium’s north end to add an estimated 3,200 seats, most of it prime seating.

FAYETTEVILLE -- A 20-page letter from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville outlining details of a proposed $160 million expansion of Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium has not persuaded former U.S. Sen. David Pryor to support the project.

"I assume I am, right now, a minority of one, but I feel very strongly that now is not the time to go forward with the stadium project," Pryor said Friday, the same day UA released to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette the response to 33 questions posed by Pryor in a letter last month.

Pryor sits on the board of trustees for the UA System, the 10-person governing body that must approve the project, which would be the most expensive in campus history. In January, Jeff Long, UA's athletic director, told the board about plans to expand the stadium's north end to add an estimated 3,200 seats, most of it prime seating.

The project would be paid for in part with a bond issue not to exceed $120 million, Chancellor Joe Steinmetz said in a letter to Pryor dated Thursday that described the importance of stadium renovations. The letter states that athletic revenue would be used to amortize the bond issue.

"We believe that this project is not only important for the future of the University of Arkansas, but also for the continued economic and cultural growth of our state," Steinmetz wrote, noting the economic impact of Razorback athletics, which he estimated at $153.6 million annually.

Long told trustees $40 million would come from private funds, and Steinmetz wrote that $17 million has already been raised in private gift support for the project.

Pryor, in the January meeting, abstained from an otherwise unanimous vote by trustees to allow UA to move forward to get more detailed cost and design details.

The $40 million to be raised is "probably not the key thing," Pryor said, adding that he had not yet had time to read the full UA response after Steinmetz gave him the letter personally at a dinner event Thursday night following a public talk at the Fayetteville campus by Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty, a former White House chief of staff.

Pryor said he had concerns about the indebtedness that would result from the project and noted that state lawmakers have provided stagnant funding for higher education.

In his questions submitted last month, Pryor also asked whether the expansion would provide more general admission or student seating. UA's response stated that the 10,000 seats now allotted for students is large enough to accommodate current student attendance.

"I think we have higher priorities than a football stadium, and it's not to benefit students," Pryor said Friday. "I just do not think this is the right time to do it."

Steinmetz, in his letter, described a "critical crossroads" for the stadium because of "new needs, including heightened safety and security requirements, and the evolving demands of our fans and alumni." Long has said demand exists for more premium seating.

Pryor said he was surprised at how quickly UA provided answers to his questions, and urged for transparency to continue throughout the process, including about fundraising.

But "I see nothing right now that would change my mind," Pryor said. "I am open for discussion."

Metro on 04/23/2016

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