Cramton Bowl Renovation

[Southron]

Mayor Bright would like to upgrade Cramton Bowl, adding concessions, luxury suites and a new press box, so that the downtown stadium could host high school playoff and college football games, and the city could bring back the Blue-Gray game. The mayor is trying to get the county, the school board and Alabama State University to help the city pay for the $14 million renovation of the 24,000-seat stadium, which was built in 1922.

Montgomery Advertiser: City looks to upgrade Cramton Bowl

What do ya'll think about this? Should the city renovate Cramton Bowl and Garrett Coliseum, or build a new arena downtown that would take the place of both?

[EXBubba]

The only way they will ever get BG game back is with at least 50k seats let alone skyboxes and fancy concessions.

[Southron]

I was surprised that there was no mention of additional seating capacity. Seems kind of dumb to spend all those millions of dollars and not increase the size of the stadium.

[brad0022]

Found this article with renderings

http://www.mymaxmore.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=120:the-cramton-conversion&catid=1:current&Itemid=32

" If the venue performs according to the “best case” scenario of hosting around 50 events per year, the number could increase to 1,100. Translated into dollars and cents, those events could generate an estimated $87 million in annual revenue."

The more conservative performance will easily pay back the whole 22-23 million dollar cost.

This is paid for with a 100 million dollar bond issued earlier this year.

[Southron]

The renovations are well under way now at Cramton Bowl. A few renderings, including the new multipurpose sports facility:

[Southron]

Construction photos taken this week: