TTU Receiving “Significant Interest” From Designers On Stadium Project

Tennessee Tech is interviewing architects to start the design process to expand Tucker Stadium.

Athletic Director Mark Wilson said firms have expressed a significant amount of interest in redoing the west side of the stadium.

“There’s a lot of work. There’s a lot of engineering work that’s going have to go on to figure out how to demolish the existing west side of Tucker Stadium, remove and then rebuild,” Wilson said. “Our goal is also to have it completed in one of season.”

Wilson said the goal is to start demolition after the 2023 season and begin construction in November of next year. Wilson said one challenge designers have asked about is completing the project for the 2024 season. Wilson said the university will have to be creative since the football team will play on that field.

“There’s other people that’s done projects bigger than this that had to adjust how they operate games and things of that nature,” Wilson said. “We are talking with some of those people to try to learn in advance on challenges we may have.”

Wilson said the track team will likely not be able to practice at Tucker Stadium during the spring next year. Wilson said those conversations will happen over the summer.

As for the Football Operations Center, Wilson said the university has fund raised about half of its $15 million goal. Wilson said there is a real possibility that both projects could be ongoing at the same time.

“We will have lots of input in working with the university president,” Wilson said. “Dr. Oldham will have a lot of input as well. Then we’ll ensure that we get feedback from coach Alexander and the other people that that will have daily use of that facility.”