UK has been in discussions internally on what improvements they are going to take to the BOT meeting coming up this month.
Lots of good things in the works for our football program. Glad to see Mitch, the athletic department, and our administration are putting more resources to our thriving football program. Also Kudos to Stoops for continuing to demand more improvements and a bigger, better football program! Lots to be excited about.
- Nutter Fieldhouse - Nutter is the top priority for approval and new updates. They have put an initial proposal and cost analysis together but not finalized dollar amounts. The initial number is a little under $7 million but they are actually wanting to get under that dollar amount and considering changing a few things. As things stand right now it will remove the existing track, all new turf for a full football field, new overhead doors, new windows, new paint and graphics, new netting for cross functional use & FG practice, and pitching/hitting tunnels for baseball use. It will also include new fan system for better ventilation and airflow. The current timeline to get this approved, bids confirmed, and completion is sometime in the summer of 2023 if things go as planned. Cliff Hagan stadium will need to be demolished and cleared to open up that area for a new indoor track facility. The new indoor track project will also need to be approved and be ongoing during the same time period to allow for the completion of that to open up Nutter for it’s worked to be completed.
- Kroger Field - A) the first project they are hoping to get completed before before the start of the 2022 season is all new turf for the field. The current turf is about past it’s life span and they have been reviewing new types of turf that are most desirable for their new turf. Apparently the turf down at the Citrus Bowl stadium is very favorable for the players and staff. They hope to get bids on new turf this spring and have it installed before the season if everything works out on their desired timeline. B) Next new video boards. They are actively looking at replacing the current video boards with a new, updated technology for the boards. They will use the current metal structures but will replace the internal video boards and be able to add additional video board space with more video square footage to some of the unused space in the current design. They would like to get this completed before the seasons starts but they are not confident with supply chain issues that the components needed for the video board will all be available in time to get it completed.
Lots of good things in the works for our football program. Glad to see Mitch, the athletic department, and our administration are putting more resources to our thriving football program. Also Kudos to Stoops for continuing to demand more improvements and a bigger, better football program! Lots to be excited about.
