Brenda Blagg: Betting on Hog futures

Trustees give final backing to stadium expansion project

It is a done deal. Donald W. Reynolds Stadium's capacity will be increased by about 4,000 seats and at an estimated cost of $160 million.

University of Arkansas trustees on Thursday approved the athletic department's issue of up to $120 million in general-obligation bonds to help pay for the project, which is scheduled for completion in time for the 2018 football season. The $40 million balance will come from other athletic department sources, including sale of those premium seats.

Thursday's action came on a split 8-2 vote of trustees but with little of the controversy that had accompanied the proposed bond issue.

Former U.S. Sen. David Pryor of Little Rock and fellow UA Board of Trustees member Cliff Gibson of Monticello were the only "no" votes on the 10-member board.

Pryor earlier raised a lot of questions about the stadium project, suggesting the university should consider priorities other than making such a large bond issue for a few thousand premium seats.

Last week, Pryor thanked other board members for hearing him out but maintained his opposition to the project.

Gibson joined him, telling an interviewer afterward that he wanted written assurance that the Fayetteville project wouldn't affect other UA System campuses.

UA officials said again that the other institutions would not be affected..

For the record, the trustees who backed the bond issue were 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.

Those 4,000 new seats aren't all that will be added to the stadium. It's an expansive project that will enclose the stadium, connecting the concourse to the east and west walkways, adding two elevators and a new video board at the south end of the stadium.

The Broyles Athletic Center at the north end zone will be extended into the parking lot and include a new game-day locker room and training room.

The premium seating will include Founders Club Suites on the east side of the stadium and new "loge" boxes, which will be clusters of four to eight outdoor seats separated from others by a partition, as well as additional club seating.

Athletic Director Jeff Long reported to the trustees last week that he has secured signed commitments of $27.3 million for suite seats and another $4.3 million in commitments that are yet to be processed. The sum is more than half again the $20 million from suite sales the athletic department had projected.

Sales of these seats are critical to paying off the bond issue.

The plan is to retire the debt over a 20-year period, paying about $6 million annually for the first five years and about $9 million for the remainder of the term.

The difference will allow the department to retire an existing $55 million debt before focusing on paying off the stadium project.

The department is also dedicating $10 million in reserve funds toward the project and possibly will use another $10 million in Razorback Foundation money, if needed, or direct some of its SEC Network revenue to the project.

Still, much of the money to retire the debt will be derived from keeping people in the seats at Razorback athletic events.

The report on suite sales bodes well for the effort.

Long has said repeatedly that the premium seating is what is in demand, even if a lot more traditional seats might have been set into the north end zone.

At least that's the plan, which is an educated guess that fans of Razorback football will show up for the next 20 years in numbers large enough to pay off the debt.

Commentary on 09/11/2016

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