Capital city

Alabama to upgrade stadium in $100 million campaign

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -- The University of Alabama is trying to raise $100 million for improvements to athletic facilities including the football stadium, where about 10,000 seats will be added.

Athletic director Mal Moore announced the university's first capital campaign for athletics during a news conference Monday.

The school is seeking $50 million in donations to couple with $50 million from the sale of bonds, Moore said.

Joe Kelley of the Crimson Tradition Fund, the name of the fund-raising initiative, said $30 million in private donations already has been secured.

In addition to adding an upper deck to an end zone at Bryant-Denny Stadium, which now seats 83,818, officials want to modernize Coleman Coliseum and convert the old athletic dormitory into an academic center for athletes.

A new 120-room dorm also is planned for the center, which would house freshman and sophomore football players and engineering students. Tennis and soccer complexes also will be built, including new tennis courts and a 2,000-seat soccer stadium.

The athletic fund-raising drive comes at a time when the university is absorbing state budget cuts and seeking more scholarship money. The head of the Faculty Senate said there is room for both fund-raising efforts at the school.

"If fund raising is done properly, the people who are raising money on the athletics side aren't tapping into the academics side," said Norm Baldwin, senate president.

 

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