What's next for Liberty Stadium renovation project after City Council approval

Tuesday was an important day for the University of Memphis.

While the Tigers' men's basketball team was clobbering Virginia at FedExForum, Memphis athletic director Laird Veatch and other administrators were a few blocks away at Memphis City Hall. It was there that the City Council voted to approve a deal that would transfer $120 million and ownership of Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium from the city to the university, the latest development in a stadium renovation saga that's been going on for a year and a half.

While the agreement — which came in the form of a resolution that City Council approved on a 8-2-1 vote — was an important hurdle that needed to be cleared, there are still plenty of next steps in the ongoing process.

The city and the Memphis Grizzlies can now move toward discussing a deal for renovations at FedExForum. The city received $350 million from the state to fund various stadium renovation projects in Memphis, and there will be $230 million left over after the deal with the university. But the FedExForum renovations are expected to cost around $550 million, so there's work to do to find more than $300 million to finance the project.

While the university is much closer to finalizing Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium's renovations, there are still hoops to jump through. The university plans to spend $220 million on the project — $120 million from the city, $50 million in a challenge gift from FedEx founder Fred Smith and his family and an additional $50 million it plans to fundraise.

Here's what the next few weeks and months will look like for the project.

Step 1: Come to agreements with stadium tenants

City Council finally voted on the stadium resolution more than four hours into Tuesday's meeting, but it wasn't straightforward. Fred Jones, the founder of the Southern Heritage Classic, expressed his concerns with the deal and the fact that he hadn't seen the proposed terms until just before the vote. City and university officials had been discussing the specific terms of the Letter of Intent between the two parties throughout the day, including during the meeting while other items were being discussed.

"In essence, this document is not very helpful to this process at all," Jones said at the meeting. "So I want to make that very clear on the record...it would be very, very detrimental to us, the Southern Heritage Classic."

Some council members sympathized with Jones and contemplated delaying the vote to work out an agreement, but they ultimately voted to approve the deal.

Still, that came with a caveat — City Council will have to approve the minutes of Tuesday's meeting at the next council meeting and could choose not to approve the stadium resolution if the university and the stadium's tenants don't come to an agreement in the next three weeks.

In addition to the Southern Heritage Classic, the USFL and AutoZone Liberty Bowl also use the stadium. University officials expressed optimism they'd be able to reach an agreement before the next meeting, but that's the most pressing thing for them to deal with in the short-term.

Step 2: Finalize specific renovation plans

The university has been planning stadium renovations for more than a year, but it's safe to say the current plans won't look identical to the original ones. Costs have shifted, as have priorities for what specific upgrades are most pressing.

Before officials can break ground and start the project, they'll have to set out a timeframe and lay out exactly what they plan to change at the 58-year-old stadium. Both city and university officials have said they need to upgrade the stadium so the Tigers can get into a different athletic conference, but what do those conference want to see? That's something officials will weigh over the next few months.

Memphis currently plays in the American Athletic Conference but has not been shy about pitching itself to power conferences like the Big 12.

After the plans are finalized, officials will have to decide when they want to break ground. They'll decide that with at least $120 million in hand, but they might not have the full $220 million at that point.

Which leads to Step 3.

Step 3: Fundraise $50 million

The Smith family's donation comes in the form of a challenge gift. That means the $50 million is unlocked only when the university fundraises the matching $50 million. The challenge is essentially for others in the University of Memphis community to chip in with their donations to unlock the full $100 million.

But fundraising is always difficult, and now university officials will have to aggressively reach out to alums and donors in search of that $50 million.

The university's ownership of the stadium will unlock some possibilities with fundraising. It's also possible that officials will start the renovations with only some of the $50 million fundraised, and it's fair to say there will be a collaboration with Smith and his family to make sure everyone is on the same page as the project moves forward.

Right now, there's no timeframe for the project. But like everything with this process, it's all subject to change on short notice.

Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @thejonahdylan.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: What's next for Liberty Stadium renovation project after city approval