Skip to main content
Florida

Scott Stricklin: Renovation of The Swamp likely would result in seat capacity reduction

On3 imageby: Keith Niebuhr06/25/25On3Keith
Florida-Gators-The-Swamp-Ben-Hill-Griffin-Stadium
Players run onto the field before a game between the Florida Gators and Kentucky Wildcats at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. (Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images)

Florida athletics director Scott Stricklin, speaking on the Gator Nation Football Podcast this week, said the reduction of seating capacity at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium during any renovation probably is unavoidable. That’s because UF would need to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, he noted.

“We have like six or seven goals for the renovation of The Swamp, which is 95 years old this year, the original part of that,” Stricklin said in his interview with Allen Williams and James Di Virgilio. “So people ask, ‘Why do we need to do anything?’ There’s about $500 million in deferred maintenance alone in this stadium. So if you want to have that go to a safe environment that makes us all proud, we need to invest in it. And that’s all we’re doing; we’re re-investing in something that I think every Gator fan really holds dear. One of our stated goals is to minimize the impact of seat count loss.

And the minute we start addressing deferred maintenance, we’re going to trigger federal code related to the Americans with Disabilities Act and that right there reduces the seat capacity by thousands. Adding ADA seats, widening aisles—and so that’s if we add no chair backs anywhere in the stadium. That’s just a reality that we’re dealing with. That’s not something I dreamed up. We can sit there and just not touch it and let it fall into disrepair or we can finally address it and try to do something in a thoughtful manner that makes The Swamp stay The Swamp and try to minimize that impact as much as possible.”

Currently, the stadium has a seating capacity of 88,548. In December of 2023, the University Athletic Association announced the hiring of the architect firm Crawford Architects to formally begin developing renovation, construction, and phasing options for The Swamp. The firm has had prior jobs updating old and iconic venues including Fenway Park.

Meanwhile, Stricklin, who this week called the renovation “the most ambitious project in the history of college athletics” in his Gator Nation Football Podcast interview, also talked about a timeline for the project and where things stand today.

“We are in design/development phase. There’s three phases when you’re in design,” Stricklin said on the show. “This is the second phase. We’ll wrap this up sometime in the fall. At that point we’ll have a really good sense on budget. We’ll have a really good sense on what we’ll actually do. And once we come up with a financing plan we’ll be ready to start sharing that with Gator Nation.”

You can read more about his interview HERE.

You may also like