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What's the latest with Texas Tech football, Jones AT&T Stadium construction?
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- What's the latest with Texas Tech football, Jones AT&T Stadium construction?
Had the Texas Tech athletics department charged people a nominal fee to tune in online and watch the day-to-day progress on its two-year, $242 million football facilities project, it might have made a substantial dent toward paying it off.
That's a joke. Sort of.
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Construction on the Jones AT&T Stadium south end zone building, the adjoining Dustin R. Womble Football Center , the new visitors' locker room, its ramp leading to the field and a new north-end videoboard and sound system have been a source of endless fascination for Texas Tech football fans.
They discuss it on long message-board threads, watch on YouTube for free and get irritated when the cameras are shut down.
Here are questions that have come in recently about all the new bells and whistles at Jones AT&T Stadium.
A level-by-level look: What's inside Texas Tech football's new end zone building at Jones AT&T Stadium
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Q: Do you know of any near future plans for the stadium?
DW:Nothing beyond what's currently under way. It's worth a reminder here that the total project cost is $242 million, the south end zone building and Womble Football Center representing $220 million of that and the visitors' locker room, new sound system and video board being the other $22 million.
As of Tuesday, total gifts and pledges toward that cost were $103 million, Tech senior associate athletics director Robert Giovannetti said.
Jones AT&T Stadium's listed capacity will drop below 60,000, a Texas Tech athletics spokesman said this week. That's due to net loss of seats with the new south end zone building and the new ramp from the visitors' locker room in the northeast corner of the stadium.
When the construction is finished, Tech athletics will buy the property from the Red Raider Facilities Foundation for the balance of the construction loan. Then the department will take on substantial debt, probably in early 2025, deputy athletics director Jonathan Botros said recently, to pay off the project.
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Related: Texas Tech athletics reported record revenue of $146.8 million in FY 2023
The new Texas Tech football visitors' locker room is shown on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. The locker room sits at the northeast corner of Jones AT&T Stadium and is scheduled for completion on Aug. 31, the day of the Red Raiders' season opener against Abilene Christian.
Q: Is it normal in the collegiate athletics landscape to take on that much debt from this project? I'm curious how that debt would be paid off over time.
DW:I don't think it's uncommon. Massive college sports facilities projects have been the norm all over the country for a few decades now. Part of keeping up with the Joneses in college football.
Keep in mind, Tech officials made $100 million their fundraising goal, and Botros said after the 2022 season it would be a concern only if they failed to reach that amount. Which is not to say they don't want more. They're still fundraising for the project.
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Texas Tech plans to pay off the remaining debt, as much as possible, via a combination of philanthropic gifts, financing and game-day premium revenue from the south end zone suites and club seats. The more of the bill covered that way, the less Tech has to take from operating revenue in the annual budget.
The 17 suites in the south end zone building, all spoken for already, bring the total number of suites in the stadium to 102.
Related: What went into the decision to relocate Texas Tech visitors' locker room?
The ramp to the new visitors' locker room at Jones AT&T Stadium is shown on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. The ramp is located at the northeast corner of the stadium.
Q: Is the visitors' tunnel eventually going to be covered by bleachers or will it be open air like the old tunnels?
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DW:Covered over by bleachers. Only the mouth of the ramp opening will be visible from the field.
Progress on construction of the Jones AT&T Stadium south end zone building is shown on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Among the building's features are a new Double T scoreboard, shown at upper left, and one of two video boards in the upper right.
Q: Loved the transformation this stadium has had over the years. What's going to be the official capacity once complete?
DW:Precise number still to be determined. That'll be known once occupancy is determined for the party decks on the southeast and southwest corners of the new building and after seating in the northeast corner is reinstalled over the new ramp.
As of this week, those numbers had not been pinned down, Giovannetti said.
The capacity is not likely to vary much from the previous 60,454. I do think it will be announced at no less than 60,000, because some Tech fans seem to attach psychological importance to that number.
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Can you imagine the reaction if the new capacity is 59,999?
A vision in 2016: The Jones' south end: What shape will it take?
The new Daktronics videoboard at the north end of Jones AT&T Stadium is shown on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Installation of the new videoboard and ribbon boards in the stadium is a $4.9 million project.
Q: The Jones has come a long ways since I was there. Think they will ever connect the southwest and southeast corners to make it complete?
DW:There are no immediate plans to. I don't think what you describe will happen during my working life.
Progress on construction of the Jones AT&T Stadium south end zone building is shown on Tuesday, April 30, 2024.
Q: Do you think they will ever redo the north end zone?
DW:Ever's a long time, so yes. In the near future? No. It's not very old and doesn't need a redo at this point.
The north end zone stadium club and loge boxes opened for the 2016 season with the colonnade backdrop erected not long before that.
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Related: Tech removes Double-T landmark from stadium's north end
Q: Are they going to cap the Double T off with a black top with Texas Tech written on it?
DW:Yes, there will be a top piece added to the Double T scoreboard. What was hoisted and placed there briefly several weeks ago needed to be refit, according to Tech officials.
The Jones AT&T Stadium south end zone building and new Double T scoreboard is shown in early May.
Q: A question regarding the northeast light standard. Will it be relocated closer to the east-side building so it matches the southeast light standard?
DW:Nope. Staying where it is.
Construction on the Dustin R. Womble Football Center is shown on Friday, May 2, 2022. The structure will be the daily headquarters for the Texas Tech football team.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Jones AT&T Stadium construction Q&A | Texas Tech football
