Grant Field Renovation to Begin in December

The reconstruction of Georgia Tech’s Grant Field will begin in December with the destruction of the south stands, athletic director Homer Rice said.

The south stands, which gave the stadium a “U” shape when they were built in 1925, will be knocked down after the Georgia-Georgia Tech game Nov. 30.

Rice said it has not been decided what configuration the reconstructed stadium will have, and it could seat fewer people after the reconstruction than it does now.

“We’re still looking at different plans, and we’re still not certain about exactly what we’re going to do. Right now, we’re looking at building a structure with a plaza and a parking deck,” he said.

“We could probably have something in by ‘86, I don’t know what,” Rice said. The south stands have 12,000 seats of the stadium’s capacity of 58,000.

Rice said he expects the seating capacity eventually will be returned to 50,000, but said he is unsure whether Grant Field will again seat as many people as it does now.

“I don’t want to make it sound like we’re downgrading football,” Rice said. “The only times we’ve used the (south stands) recently is for overflow for opponents’ seating. It’s taken the home advantage away from us in some cases.”

The south end-zone seats are some of the poorest in the stadium, being set back 150 feet from the playing field.

The Atlanta architectural firm of Jova Daniels Busby Inc. is expected to submit plans for the reconstruction this week to the athletic department.