The University of Florida will officially renovate the Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in what is expected to cost around $400 million to be a “multigeneration solution,” The Associated Press reported on Monday.
Florida announced that the school is looking to hire an architect for the project, with the window of searching for one opening in July.
Athletic director Scott Stricklin said that it is “premature to speculate” on various details of the renovation, including how much it’ll cost, when it is expected to be completed and what the seating number will be. These decisions come after the school conducted studies for the last five years about what people wanted to see differently at the stadium. The “Swamp,” as the stadium is famously known, currently holds around 90,000 fans.
The renovation’s main focus will be to turn the stadium into more a fan-friendly venue, but the school still wants to keep a lot of the “Swamp’s” traditional parts.
“It needs to be a multigenerational solution to continue to give that stadium for future generations a chance to come and watch the Gators there,” Stricklin said, via the school’s press release. “It has to be everything from how fans experience when they’re outside the stadium, when they walk through the gate, concourse, concession, restrooms, inside the seating bowl, new premium options, better premium options. But you also want to keep what’s special about it.”
The “Swamp” was first built in 1930 and has undergone multiple expansions in its nearly 100-year history, but this will be its first major renovation.
