Video board will be another beneficial improvement to sports facilities
Consider these improvements in recent years: a baseball stadium that rivals any in the country, a new academic enrichment center, soccer field upgrades, a much-needed parking garage and minor improvements to Williams-Brice Stadium.
Still to come: an indoor football practice facility, boosted premium tailgating areas, $8 million in renovations to the softball stadium and much more.
Athletics Director Eric Hyman deserves much credit for inspiring a vision and delivering on a promise. Sure, there's been some grumbling by season ticket holders about paying more, but USC's seat licensing program was needed and will work. It has provided the mechanism for change, and change was sorely needed here.
Hyman could be a little kinder at times, but that's neither here nor there. This is business, and he's a good businessman.
We must also commend the athletics program for completing these goals with no taxpayer dollars. Athletics is wildly profitable, and it's good to see those profits being fed back into future success.
When prospective athletes visit USC and see the shining facilities we now offer, it cannot hurt their chances of actually playing here.
USC's burgeoning success on the field is evident. What may be more important for the future: the foundation currently being etched — in concrete all around Columbia.
This matters to the entire university. Athletics success boosts private donations, applications from around the country, national prestige and much more. Some may argue society gives a disproportionate influence to athletics, particularly in the SEC, but reality — and cash flow — dictates we do so.
We are doing so well.