COLUMBIA, S.C. — The University of South Carolina's board of trustees on Friday approved phase 1 of renovation and expansion plans for suites at Williams-Brice Stadium. We’re told that the stadium is currently last in premium space in the SEC.
This project will be centered around the west and east sides of the stadium, providing premium suites of all sizes and installation of club suites with a potential of 90 suites in total.
USC Athletics Director Ray Tanner says the improvements will make Williams-Brice Stadium a premium location for major events.
“We had the soccer event right, one of the biggest events we’ve ever had here ... We almost didn’t get that because of our premium space. They wanted more premium space," Tanner said. "They said is this all the suites you have and we said that’s it. That’s one of the things they requested that we didn’t have the opportunity. They sold for enormous amounts of money because of that international soccer event. So that’s the kinds of things that you put yourself in a better position of bringing great events, concerts, you name it. We can use it for certainly more things than seven Saturdays a year.”
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Some students on campus say they hope some of these improvements might help with morale during the season. Aubrie Boyer was one of those students.
“If we don’t start to win, a lot of people leave,” said Boyer. “So, I think that if we kinda have some sort of incentive for people to stay, that would benefit the players, improve their morale , and that would also make it more fun for everyone else.
Others aren’t too excited to be losing a couple of thousand seats to suites.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea because it's already hard for us to get tickets, and they’re just going to take away seats from us for people who don’t even go here anymore,” one student said
Trustees also approved a $350 million hospital in the BullStreet District.
The hospital will be in partnership with the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and it will be the first in stand-alone hospital in the state to specialize in neurological care.