By Ethan Smith, Sports Editor

sports.inkwell1@gmail.com

Athletics was once a staple of student-life here at the Georgia Southern-Armstrong campus, but now the future of athletics on this campus is, bluntly, all over the place. With athletics at the forefront of the consolidation issues, Armstrong has created some plans pertaining the future of Division I athletics and recreational activities for students here in Savannah.

A team from Hastings+Chivetta Architects created two plans pertaining to outdoor and indoor recreational ideas involving the Alumni Arena and the open area around it. Both concepts would cost roughly 16 to 19 million dollars, with plans to change the interior of the Alumni Arena and add an outdoor area. Below are pictures of each concept:

Also, in the assessment, the notion of Division I athletics coming to this campus was brought up, “With the consolidation, athletics will no longer be competing in NCAA Division II but rather will be a part of Division I sports. The first step is to determine the feasibility of and the impacts associated with upgrading existing venues to meet NCAA D1 requirements. These outcomes must be examined through a realistic lens.”

The company and the committee took each individual sport into account based on what would have to be added to each athletic area. For example, Armstrong’s soccer field would only need to add new bleachers (200 more to meet the requirement), a new press box and infrastructure improvement. Each sport has individual requirements that must be met to satisfy D1 standards, meaning each sport will be treated individually.

The Athletic Center also got love and an interesting design, which is below:

Of course all of these ideas are just suggestions, but they can be the base to what may eventually happen for athletics here at Armstrong in the coming years. The ideas placed are very plausible and very much a possibility; however, time will tell if these ideas become reality. I believe that if they do become reality, it would greatly benefit our campus and more involve the Armstrong campus into Georgia Southern student-life. Below are pictures of each concept.