Organizers have raised $5 million for the construction of a football stadium on the University of West Georgia campus, and the goal of $10 million will be surpassed when students begin paying a new athletic facility fee next fall.

The 9,000-seat stadium should be completed in time for the 2009 season.

“The University of West Georgia has had football for about 26 years now and we’ve never played a home game,” said Dr. Andrew Leavitt, associate vice president for development and alumni relations.

Since West Georgia resurrected its football program and began competing in 1981, it has played its “home” games at Grisham Stadium on the Carrollton city schools campus.

The athletic complex will be built on 248 acres given to the university by the city of Carrollton. The land, on the northwest border of the university, is separated from the main campus by the Little Tallapoosa River. The facility will be accessible by Lovvorn Road but the Georgia Department of Transportation and the city of Carrollton are planning a bridge to connect the main campus to the new land.

“With the governor’s signature, we hope to have that bridge in place soon after the stadium opens,” Leavitt said.

Construction on the new stadium is set to begin on March 1 and should be completed June 1, 2009, he said.

“So, we’ll be playing football in the stadium by August of 2009,” Leavitt said.

The complex will also have a soccer field with seating for 500 and a softball field with seating for 300 along with practice fields for each of the sports, said David Parkman, who chairs the Stadium Development Committee.



Future additions will be tennis courts, a driving range and putting greens, he said.

Parkman said the fund raising has gone very well.

“We’ve raised approximately $5 million and then we’re hoping to get that up to $6 million by the end of the year,” he said. “There’ve been gifts from $10 to $1.5 million. It’s varied quite a bit.”

This has been the largest fund-raising effort for a project at the university, Parkman said.

“We’re just thrilled that the community and the students and the university have come together and this is going to be an amazing facility not only for the university but for Carrollton and West Georgia,” Leavitt said.

He said the university plans to talk to any group that wishes to use the stadium after construction is complete.

“This certainly is going to be, needs to be a community space,” Leavitt said.

“It’s really a nice collaborative project between the students and the community,” Leavitt said. “On the community side we raised a lot of money and the students are going to come and help us with the rest of it. That way we’ll be able to complete the project on time.”