College athletic plans get funds help
USC, Clemson cleared to borrow up to $200 million; Sanford to review bill

Published: Friday, April 20, 2007 - 2:00 am


By Tim Smith
CAPITAL BUREAU
tcsmith@greenvillenews.com

COLUMBIA -- The University of South Carolina and Clemson University each received approval from lawmakers Thursday to borrow up to $200 million for athletic projects.

The House approved a Senate bill that would expand from $60 million to $200 million the bonding capacity of each school for athletic construction.

However, Clemson has no plans to use any of the money, its athletic director said.

"We actually went down to the hearing to support USC," said Athletic Director Terry Don Phillips. "They've got a lot of projects. They ended up doing it for both universities. We do not have any present plans to issue any bonds."

The measure passed on a voice vote and now goes to Gov. Mark Sanford, who wants to study the legislation, a spokesman said.

"We are going to take a very, very close look at it to understand the ramifications and to make sure it doesn't have an impact on raising tuition," said Joel Sawyer, a Sanford spokesman.

Some lawmakers had the same concerns. But Rep. Adam Taylor, a Laurens Republican who explained the proposal to House members, said there is no danger to either school, even if athletic revenues fail to pay back the bonds.

"I am told they actually have insurance on the bonds, therefore it could not get back to the university as far as the university being held responsible," he said.

Taylor said any project funded by the bonds still must be approved by the Legislature's Joint Bond Review Committee and the State Budget and Control Board. He also said the two schools are the only ones in their conferences that have the procedures involving caps on athletic bonds.

"My feeling is, yes, we need to be responsive on this type of thing because they still need to go through the same rules," he said, "but if they need these facilities, we need to do what we have to do to allow the two respective schools to be competitive within their conferences when it comes to facilities."

Phillips said Clemson might tap the bonds in the future if the need arises but now doesn't have any such plans.

At USC, the money will help fund a $200 million master plan for updating its facilities that was announced last year, a spokesman said.

That plan includes a new $24 million baseball stadium now under construction, a $73 million expansion of its football stadium, an $11.4 million academic enrichment center, demolishing Sarge Frye Field and building a synthetic-turf field for women's lacrosse, and expansion of the outdoor tennis facility to allow the women players to move from a 1940s-era facility.

The baseball stadium is scheduled to open next year.