Advertisement

See timelines for Texas Tech football projects at Jones AT&T Stadium

don williams, lubbock avalanche-journal
·3 min read

Work is under way on the new visitors' locker room and ramp at the northeast corner of Jones AT&T Stadium, one of the next components of the two-year, $242 million Texas Tech football construction and renovation project.

The new locker room near the Marsha Sharp Freeway will be 5,200 square feet, Tech senior associate athletics director Robert Giovannetti said, and replace the longtime visitors' locker room location in the stadium's southeast corner. Construction fencing has been put up around the site.

Texas Tech officials explained earlier this year they wanted to permanently relocate visiting teams' game-day operations, including their equipment truck and team buses, away from the Tech football building and the 6th Street plaza area heavily trafficked by Red Raiders fans after games.

When the 2022 football season ended, the Double T scoreboard that rose above the stadium's south end zone since 1978 was removed, and work began on a four-level stadium building. Fans saw progress on the south end zone building throughout this season as the structural steel and framework continue to go up.

More: Red Raider Club banner in place at south end of stadium for Texas Tech football home opener

What Red Raiders' coach likes best: Walk into a virtual world: New video tool one of McGuire's favorite features of coming Tech facility

The framework of the new Jones AT&T Stadium south end zone building is shown during Texas Tech's regular-season finale last week against Central Florida. The four-level building is scheduled to be completed in June, Tech officials said this week.
The framework of the new Jones AT&T Stadium south end zone building is shown during Texas Tech's regular-season finale last week against Central Florida. The four-level building is scheduled to be completed in June, Tech officials said this week.

Tech announced plans for the project in July 2022 with an estimated price tag of $200 million. It is now projected at $242 million, Giovannetti said — the breakdown being $220 million for the south end zone building and Womble Football Center, which will be connected by skybridge, and $22 million for the visitors' locker room, a new sound system and a new video board on the north end.

Work on installing a new Double T scoreboard for the south end zone will begin in January and will take six months, including fabrication and installation, Giovannetti said.

The Football Training Facility, which is the team's daily headquarters and office building, will be razed and replaced by a two-story Dustin R. Womble Football Center.

Target completion dates, Giovannetti said, are June 2024 for the south end zone building, August 2024 for the visitors' locker room and Aug. 31, 2024, for the Womble Football Center. Aug. 31 also is the date of the Red Raiders' season opener against Abilene Christian.

"It's going to be a challenge," Giovannetti said, "but by next year we will all have kind of forgotten about all the challenges."

Tech beat Central Florida last week in the home finale, and the Red Raiders finish the regular season Friday at No. 7 Texas.

Construction fencing surrounds the site where a new visitors' locker room will be built at the northeast corner of Jones AT&T Stadium. That part of two-year, $242-million Texas Tech football project is targeted for completion in August.
Construction fencing surrounds the site where a new visitors' locker room will be built at the northeast corner of Jones AT&T Stadium. That part of two-year, $242-million Texas Tech football project is targeted for completion in August.

The Tech Football Training Facility, built in the early Mike Leach era, is about 20 years old. It has housed coaches offices, meeting rooms, a sports medicine and athletic training room, an equipment room and a weight room. The Tech staff must vacate the building by Dec. 2, after which utilities will be shut off and fencing put up around it starting Dec. 4 to begin the demolition process.

Tech coaches are moving to suites on the press level of the Jones AT&T Stadium west building. For bowl prep, winter conditioning and spring practice, Tech players will use the temporary locker-room trailers in the stadium's east parking lot. Visiting teams used the locker-room trailers this season.

The athletic training and sports medicine staffs will move to the Sports Performance Center for bowl prep, winter conditioning and spring football, Giovannetti said, and the equipment staff will move to a new trailer in the east stadium lot, separate from the ones visiting teams used this season.

Tech coaches will office in the south end zone building once it's complete.

Stadium capacity for 2024 has yet to be finalized. Senior associate athletics director Mike Ryan said it will remain around 60,000, Giovannetti said. The current listed capacity is 60,454.

The new south end zone building will have 17 suites, taking the total number of suites in the stadium to 102.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Timelines for Texas Tech football projects at Jones AT&T Stadium