Georgia AD says Bulldogs will have the ‘best’ standalone football facility
By Andrew Olson
Published:
At South Carolina, LSU and Missouri, new “standalone football operations” facilities (weight room, coaches offices, lounges, and more) have wowed recruits, fans and media members. Georgia is determined not to get left behind in what some call the facilities “arms race.”
Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald authored a new feature on Georgia’s plans for a new football facility like the ones we’ve seen at the schools mentioned above. A new football building as part of a Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall expansion on UGA campus is coming. Georgia AD Greg McGarity is committed to giving the Bulldogs the best facility in the country.
“Just like we have the best indoor facility,” he told Weiszer.
The best facility costs a pretty penny. A lot of pennies, in fact. When Weiszer brings up a price tag in the range of $80 million, McGarity acknowledges that the project will be “in that ballpark.” The “wow factor” will figure into the plans, but McGarity sounds more concerned with functionality.
“Any facility that’s under consideration, the wow factor plays a part in anything,” McGarity told Weiszer. “That’s something that’s very important, but I think functionality and size and space probably trumps the wow factor because what you have to focus on is these young men or women in whatever facility—like our equestrian facility, that’s got a huge wow factor—spend so much time in these facilities that the first priority is functionality and the second priority is what’s the movement for players to get from point A to point B to point C.”
While it’s an exciting development for the program, it won’t happen overnight. McGarity mentions a board meeting in September. Right now, the completion of the first phase of the project is being targeted for July 2021.
With Kirby Smart already bringing in up top recruiting classes, one can only imagine what kind of boost the Bulldogs will receive when Smart and his staff get to show off an eight-figure new facility to recruits visiting Georgia campus.
More on facility plans and construction and the SEC arms race can be found in Weiszer’s feature here.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
