The University of Arkansas board of trustees on Monday approved two architecture firms and two general contractors to move forward with plans to renovate the Bud Walton Arena on the campus of UA-Fayetteville.
During a special meeting Monday, the Board greenlighted architecture firms AECOM of Los Angeles and Cromwell Architects Engineers of Little Rock to partner with contractors Mortenson of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Nabholz Construction Co. of Conway to start phase one of the Bud Walton Arena Renovation Project.
Renovation costs are expected to be between $50 million-$100 million for the facility, used for basketball games, graduations and also Walmart Inc.’s annual shareholders’ meeting. Construction is tentatively set to begin sometime in the spring of 2025, with a target completion in November 2026.
Scott Turley, UA-Fayetteville associate vice chancellor of facilities, told trustees that the architecture and construction firms would spend the next six months exploring several different scenarios for an overhaul of the sports arena. Those options include updating the structure’s mechanical and electrical systems, enhancing amenities for athletes and fans as well as whether the building also could be used as a performance venue, Turley said.
The board would be presented with the results of those studies sometime in early 2024, he said.
Built in 1993, the 19,000-seat Bud Walton Arena — the fifth largest on-campus arena in the U.S. — “remains largely as it was when it was first constructed,” according to documents from UA-Fayetteville administration presented to the board during Monday’s meeting.
“An intermittent series of small renovations have focused on individual team spaces, like training and locker rooms and on the fans’ game experience,” the capital project proposal said.
“These improvements include an improved scoreboard, expanded suites and additional courtside seating. However, beyond these targeted changes, most of the arena’s fixtures, finishes, and building systems are original and have reached the end of their lifespan,” the proposal said.
At minimum, upgrades of “all of Bud Walton Arena’s aging systems, finishes and deferred maintenance needs,” would be overhauled.
A “back-of-house renovation and expansion” would accommodate multi-use events, including graduations, corporate meetings and new events, like concerts “that would appeal to the students and the community at large,” the document said.
The phase one study will be funded by athletic reserves. The phase two design and construction would be funded by athletic revenues, gifts and bond proceeds from a future bond issue.
In a separate matter, the board approved UA-Fort Smith to join the Mid-America Athletics Association. Full-time membership will begin the 2024–2025 academic year.
UA-Fort Smith is MIAA’s first full-time member in the state. Harding University, Ouachita Baptist University and Southern Arkansas University are MIAA associate members for men’s tennis.
UA-Fort Smith wanted to join the organization so the university’s sports teams would not have to travel hundreds of miles for competitions. Membership enables the school to compete with teams that are closer. Administrators told the board there was increasing concern over the amount of time student athletes were traveling to compete and missing class.
“An athletic conference should bring like-minded institutions in a geographical area to compete and allow their student-athletes to excel academically and develop life skills, and the MIAA does that for UA-Fort Smith,” Curtis Janz, UA-Fort Smith athletic director, said in a statement released Monday.
“The geographical footprint of the MIAA allows for our student-athletes to participate academically and enhance their experience as collegiate student-athletes,” Janz said. “Our fans can travel and support our teams on the road, just as we can welcome more fans from MIAA opponents.”
UA-Fort Smith Chancellor Terisa Riley told trustees that “five or six years ago [the MIAA] probably would not have had enough interest in [UA-Fort Smith] because it doesn’t have a football team.”
“But they changed the landscape for that conference in terms of growth and dynamic types of institutions playing,” Riley said. “They have focused on regional, public institutions, like our own, so we have become very attractive to MIAA just as they are to us.”
Established in 1912, the MIAA is a National College Athletic Association Division II conference. It has 14 full-time members.
Sign up for Daily E-news
