The vote is done but controversy will nevertheless linger now that the University of Arkansas trustees have decided to expand Razorback Stadium.
Trustees voted 8-2 Thursday for what is projected to be a $160 million construction project, although others expect the total cost will top $220 million.
Among the critics is former U.S. Sen. David Pryor of Little Rock, one of two UA trustees to vote against the project. The other was Cliff Gibson of Monticello, who wanted more information about potential alternate uses of the funds.
But it has been Pryor who has been sounding alarms against the stadium expansion for some time now, challenging the UA's priorities.
This project "does not put students first" and instead serves a few thousand fans in upper income levels, Pryor said in a lengthy statement he circulated to other trustees before the vote.
"We have just raised tuition, thus adding to the backbreaking debt load our students and their families bear. With state funding for higher education stagnant, where do we get the dollars for future classrooms for the fast-growing student population? How do we equip our labs and find scholarship support? Can we continue being in last place in faculty salaries, according to the Southern Regional Education Board (176 Southern states)? Are we to accept as a given fact that we are 45th in the nation of those states with the lowest percentage of college degrees?" Pryor wrote.
"And is our answer to these and many other questions going to be, 'Let's use our resources to add 3,000 luxury boxes and high-end seats for our football stadium?'"
That's just a small sample of the pointed questions Pryor asked this week and in earlier discussions of the project.
Those are the kind of questions that will linger even as the university moves toward a 2018 completion date for the expansion.
Notably, five former trustees also came out publicly against the project in the days just prior to the vote. John Tyson of Springdale, Kaneaster Hodges of Newport, Frances Cranford of Little Rock, Diane Nolan Alderson of El Dorado and Jack Williams of Texarkana wrote in an op-ed piece in this newspaper that this is a "terrible time" for UA Fayetteville to be committing "to this kind of debt, especially for this purpose."
They, too, cited skyrocketing tuition as well as the fact that state financial support for higher education is "under serious pressure" and that the formula for that funding could be changed soon.
Nevertheless, the other current trustees readily signed off on the project.
Trustees Reynie Rutledge of Searcy, the board chairman, and Stephen Broughton of Pine Bluff, Kelly Eichler of Little Rock, John Goodson of Texarkana, Morril Harriman of Little Rock, Ben Hyneman of Jonesboro, Sheffield Nelson of Little Rock and Mark Waldrip of Moro sided with UA administrators from UA System President Don Bobbitt down.
UA Chancellor Joe Steinmetz called the project important for the continued economic and cultural growth of the state, not just the UA.
And Athletic Director Jeff Long emphasized the strong fiscal condition of the athletic department and that no public or student dollars would be used in the project.
Athletics at the UA bring in $105.7 million with well more than half of that coming from football. These new seats are supposed to boost that revenue enough over the next 20 years to pay back $120 million in debt the UA wants to assume through a bond issue. The balance of the money for the $160 expansion would come from existing athletic department funds ($10 million), from private contributions for new suites ($20 million) and possibly from Razorback Foundation reserves ($10 million).
The Athletics Department is self-supporting, making the UA one of only a couple of dozen public schools in the country that bring in more money than they spend on athletics.
It's that fact that has persuaded administrators and most of the board to gamble on the project. They're betting that additional ticket sales, mostly generated by fewer than 4,000 new seats, will sustain -- and grow -- the program for the life of that bond issue.
The renovation involves rebuilding the Frank Broyles Athletic Center on the north end of the stadium and adding premium seating to increase the stadium capacity from 72,000 to about 76,000.
The project also includes elevator upgrades, concourse connections to the new north end and a new video board on the south end.
Arguably, anyone inside the stadium will see some benefit, such as from better flow around the stadium, new concessions and restrooms and that second big screen, but most of the gain is undeniably for the fewer than 4,000 fans who will buy these new premium seats -- some in suites and others in loge boxes and club seating.
They're also supposed to be paying for much of the expansion. We'll see how that works out or if the UA has to raise other ticket prices to cover this debt over the long haul.
Commentary on 06/19/2016