UAlbany seeks $60M for stadium project

University requests public funding for facility worthy of Division I football

ALBANY -- Lined by wooden stands on one side, aluminum bleachers on the other, University Field seems adequate for a NCAA Division III football program.

The problem is, the University at Albany upgraded its intercollegiate sports programs to Division I eight years ago.

That's why Great Danes football coach Bob Ford wants something better.

"If you said, 'What is (our) stadium?' You'd have to say it's more like a Division III stadium, if you had the (nerve) to call it a stadium," Ford said.

UAlbany seeks to change that -- with a lot of help from the state.

UAlbany wants public funding for a projected $60 million, multipurpose stadium that would seat 10,000 to 15,000 fans. It would stand on or near the site of University Field, the team's 5,000-seat home since the Great Danes became a varsity program in 1973.

Lee McElroy, the school's athletic director, said UAlbany has submitted its plan to the State University of New York system. The SUNY board of trustees has yet to consider the request.

"It's too early to address specific projects" for 2008, said Dave Henahan, the spokesman for SUNY system administration.

Should the trustees endorse the plan, it would go to Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who then would decide whether to put the project in his budget request for 2008-09.

UAlbany seeks $5 million to $8 million in private donations to supplement state funding, McElroy said.

School officials hope to begin construction next year and have the artificial-turf facility ready by fall 2010 for the football team. It also would be available for soccer, lacrosse and high school events.

"It will provide a venue that is representative of the entire university community," McElroy said. "It will also be an economic impact drive to the Capital Region."

UAlbany soon will begin a site analysis and environmental impact study that is expected to take three to five months and will determine the best location for the project.

UAlbany upgraded its sports program in 1999 to Division I, the highest level of college athletics. The football team plays in the Football Championship Subdivision, formerly known as Division I-AA, in which programs are allowed to give out a maximum of 63 full scholarships.

Better-known schools such as Ohio State and Florida play in the Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly known as Division I-A, which has a maximum of 85 scholarship players.

UAlbany once played at the Division III level, which offers no aid based on athletic ability.

Right now, UAlbany spreads the equivalent of 23 football scholarships among 45 to 50 players. The hope is that a new football stadium will attract better players and allow UAlbany to someday become a fully funded FCS program.

"I think (UAlbany) football, sometime during my lifetime, will probably be at the level with UMass, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, a major state university playing scholarship football on that level somewhere in the future," Ford said.

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Stadium article

By MARK SINGELAIS