Ray Tanner: Student section enhancements a possibility with new project
Details are still scarce on what the future will bring for the 800+ acres of undeveloped land that the University of South Carolina owns around and near Williams-Brice Stadium.
But as the University issued a formal Request for Information on Tuesday — in search of private business partners interested in the location — athletics director Ray Tanner said he prefers to look at the opportunity as a “blank canvas,” full of exciting possibilities.
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South Carolina views its property — situated adjacent with the Congaree River, west of the existing Long Family Football and the 17 acres adjacent to Colonial Life Arena — as an asset, ripe for private development.
The hope? Use the revenue from that development to directly impact Williams-Brice Stadium with zero to minimal additional capital investment from the fan base.
In an appearance with Jay Phillips and Terry Ford on 107.5 The Game Tuesday, Tanner insinuated that the changes to Carolina’s home stadium could be drastic.
“Enhancement is a good word — it could possibly be ‘re-do’ — but we don’t anticipate missing any games or having to move — that’s not in the cards,” Tanner said. “We would do what we can do between seasons. That’s where the phasing part comes in but as I sit here in my office I can see the stadium from here. There’s so many things that can be done that need to be done. We’ve got a great place to play but even when you talk about things that are not on everybody’s mind as in waterproofing and restroom upgrades and concession upgrades and things like that, this gives us an opportunity with our land to create revenue in different ways that can be used for the right things.”
What are those “right things?” That remains to be seen and the feasibility study should give the university a greater idea of what exactly might be possible.
Tanner, in the appearance, raised the possibility of enhancements to an area of the stadium that’s not often mentioned in the world of new suites and high-dollar fan experiences: the student section.
“I know our student section is great but I think there’s opportunities to enhance our student section and do some things that maybe other students don’t have throughout the country which is maybe an idea that I have of where we could grow in that area,” Tanner said. “But there’s certainly not a situation where we’re going to raze it and start over. We’re going to enhance what we’ve got and try to improve.”
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That’s not to say there won’t also be new premium seating areas in Williams-Brice’s future. That seems like a near certainty.
South Carolina took a major step forward with the addition of four new club areas prior to the 2020 season but the stadium is still woefully inadequate in that area compared to some other top facilities across the country.
“Coming out of COVID we did the four clubs — Horseshoe Club, Traditions Club, the Cockaboose Club, 2001 Club — that was a pretty serious project,” Tanner said. “Those were big hits and we sold those out and that’s just a little bit of the tip of the iceberg on what we could do. I look at this opportunity, the Request for Information coming back, that it just doesn’t affect one group of people, it affects our (entire) fan base. It affects students and student-athletes and everybody’s involved and we get an opportunity to really do great things for this state and this city and certainly the University of South Carolina.”
Tanner clearly doesn’t want the next round of enhancements — or the “re-do” — of Williams-Brice Stadium to be just for the high-dollar fan.
This past offseason, South Carolina added new features to the stadium that positively affected everyone, regardless of seat, including new LED lights and an upgraded sound system that was definitely needed.
The FAQ on the website that the school put together for the project also says that the school is “committed to having this project be an enhancement to the fan and student-athlete experience. Our mission is to provide our members with improved experiences without significant financial increases.”
Said Tanner: “You mention funding. We have land. That’s our asset. We have land and we’re going to have people that are interested in doing something on our land which that gives us an opportunity — our cash outlay is going to be zero to minimal for something that we’re embarking on right now.”
