After months of speculation, debate and delays, a 10-member stadium subcommittee will meet today to discuss the final feasibility report regarding an on-campus stadium.
In the closed meeting, the committee will review the study and submit possible recommendations regarding the future of the stadium, said RC Johnson, athletic director. University officials were reluctant to give details, but Johnson said today's meeting would answer many questions.
The committee will discuss many factors in today's meeting, with two areas receiving chief concern.
"The two main factors that we will be discussing are location and cost," said Johnson, who will serve as a liaison between the board of visitors and The University.
Last week, The Commercial Appeal, which obtained a draft copy of the study, reported the stadium could cost from $118 million to $151 million. The study proposes a half-dozen potential sites for the stadium in the area surrounding campus. Funding for the project would come from revenues generated by the stadium and supplementary means such as student fees, public funding, private donors and rent from events such as the Southern Heritage Classic or the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.
Location and cost also happen to be the major issues on the minds of students worried about increased tuition, as well as local residents concerned with losing their homes.
Some have argued that a new stadium's planned seating capacity of 40,000 is not enough and may only be able to tend to University interests and would be unable to accommodate the much larger crowds produced by the Liberty Bowl's two major annual events - the Southern Heritage Classic and the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.
Early last year, the city of Memphis conducted a study to decide the fate of the Liberty Bowl following an announcement by Mayor Willie Herenton that renovation of the Liberty Bowl and construction of an entirely new stadium are both possibilities.
With the possibility of a new stadium, many people began arguing that, if a new stadium were to be built, it should be built on The U of M campus. University officials hired a company to conduct their own independent feasibility study in December, but in late January of 2008, Herenton changed his mind, saying that renovating the aging Liberty Bowl would be better for the city.
Even though Herenton scrapped the plans, The University decided to press on with the $131,380 already-paid-for feasibility study.
A complete renovation of the Liberty Bowl could cost the city up to $30 million, according to Herenton.
