University of Arizona students wonโt be forced to pay for upgrades to the schoolโs football stadium โ at least not yet.
UA athletics director Greg Byrne has put the brakes on his proposal to charge incoming students a mandatory $200-a-year fee to help renovate the aging Arizona Stadium.
Byrne, who pitched the idea to student groups several weeks ago, told the UAโs student council Wednesday heโs decided not to pursue it this year.
โWeโre pressing the pause button,โ he told a meeting of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona.
Instead of going ahead now, Byrne said he intends to wait a year and will use the time to survey students and educate the community about the need for stadium improvements.
Had he tried to proceed this year, the athletic director would likely have faced an uphill battle for student support.
A recent survey of more than 1,200 graduate and professional students, for example, found 94 percent opposed or strongly opposed to the stadium fee.
Byrne hopes students would be more willing to support a fee in the future if they had more information about the need for the stadium work.
He said he plans to conduct at least two surveys, one this semester and one next school year, to get student input and see if they might be agreeable to a lower fee.
Asked by a student senator what heโd do if students still werenโt willing to support an athletics fee, Byrne replied, โI donโt know.โ
Most Pac-12 schools already charge students an athletics fee, including Arizona State University, which instituted a $150 fee last school year.
The UA situation leaves Byrne without enough money for an estimated $150 million in renovations to the stadium built in 1928.
The building has a number of problems, including shabby restrooms, subpar seating and concession facilities and narrow hallways prone to overcrowding.
If a student fee eventually passes, Byrne plans to create a funding pool that would also include private donations and money raised from higher football ticket prices.
Student senator Joe Zanoni said he appreciates the athletics departmentโs willingness to rethink the issue.
โPutting the fee on hold will ensure that the process will not be rushed,โ he said.
โStudents will be properly surveyed and at the end of the day they will be the ones deciding if the university should move forward with the fee.โ
