Rutgers Stadium Expansion in Trouble

Shortly after Rutgers has a breakthrough football season in 2006, the Rutgers administration and Governor Corzine quickly got together and announced an expansion to the Rutgers football stadium. The expansion, which would raise the seating capacity from its existing 42,000 to 56,000 in two phases, with the first phase of 1,000 premium seats scheduled for construction to commence in August. The projected total cost is now at $103 million.

The expansion has run into a slight budgetary issue. Rutgers finds itself about $30 million short, the amount which was supposed to be raised privately. Private fundraising has gone very slowly and totals only about $2 million.

The big problem for Rutgers, aside from trying to find $28 million to keep construction on track, is the secret addendum to Coach Greg Schiano's contract extension which was signed last year. The addendum provided that in the event the stadium expansion was not complete by the 2009 season, he could leave without having to pay any buyout fee. With Schiano prominently mentioned as a possible replacement for Joe Paterno at Penn State when/if Paterno ever retires, that issue may come up sooner rather than later.