USC Has Plans for Arena by 2002

The USC men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball teams are getting a state-of-the-art campus facility to call home.

Trojan Athletic Director Mike Garrett announced Thursday the school’s plans to build a 12,000-seat on-campus events center. Groundbreaking is scheduled for next summer and the center is projected to open in 2002.

Garrett said the school will spend “no more than $70 million” on construction. It is tentatively planned to be built on the southeast corner of Figueroa Street and Jefferson Boulevard, west of the USC campus.

Besides sports, USC officials plan to use the center for plays, concerts, graduations and other events.

The facility is a project Garrett has sought since becoming the men’s athletic director in 1993. Approval was granted in February by the school’s board of trustees.

Carol Dougherty, assistant dean of administration, is the project coordinator, but this is Garrett’s show. The school’s athletic department is responsible for raising the $70 million for construction. Work will not begin, Garrett said, until 100% of the total is reached through pledges and donations.

“This has been a goal of the university since two people very dear to me, Jess Hill and John McKay, were athletic directors,” Garrett said. “It is the most important project ever undertaken by the athletic department.

“Athletically, it will bring a huge boost to our recruiting in our basketball and volleyball programs and give us the best home-court advantage we’ve ever had at this university. Financially it will help us balance the budget.”

The athletic department raised a record $13.4 million this school year and Garrett is certain that groundbreaking will begin next summer.

“We wouldn’t be talking today if we weren’t confident it will happen,” he said.

HNTB, an engineering, architectural and planning firm in Kansas City, Mo., that has overseen, among other projects, the renovation of the Los Angeles Coliseum, the University of Kentucky’s Commonwealth Stadium and Orlando’s Citrus Bowl, will develop the center’s specifications. An architect and a contractor will be hired when the project is ready to begin.

At present, the athletic department has “seed money” in place for hiring the architect and contractor. Garrett declined to reveal the amount of money available. But USC President Steven Sample said, “You usually have between $2 million to $3 million” of seed money in projects of this size.

Men’s basketball Coach Henry Bibby and women’s basketball Coach Chris Gobrecht said they were excited to be getting an on-campus arena. Both teams play their home games at the Sports Arena. The women’s team also plays some games at the on-campus Lyons Center.

Bibby said the new center “will place the men’s program on the same playing field as other Pac-10 schools. Having this center will allow me to recruit higher profile student athletes and give me the opportunity to make this school really visible.”