Missouri curators to discuss architect for south end zone project on Thursday

Thursday appears to be a pretty big day for Mizzou’s proposed football stadium enhancements. The Curators will meet to discuss and, in theory, approve of the athletic department’s choice of architect.

A memorandum from MU detailing the project recommends Kansas City-based Populous as the architect. Populous has worked on similar football-facility projects at Kansas State, Oklahoma and Colorado.

First-year Missouri athletic director Jim Sterk — who has helped secure a fiscal-year record eight seven-figure donations, most toward the project — previously indicated a desire to begin construction after the Tigers’ 2017 football season.

The project is expected to be completed during summer 2019, the memo said.

The topic will be a little bit awkward considering the general state of politics and money at Mizzou right now.

The total project budget has been set at $96.7 million, while $4.31 million has been committed to cover the design costs through private gifts, according to the meeting agenda released Monday by the board. [...] Rather than build around the current south end zone structure, Missouri has decided to take down the entire south bowl and build a new structure, athletics director Jim Sterk announced in December. Mizzou also released artist renderings of the project in December.

Though the curators are only voting Thursday to approve the architect, the measure is expected to generate more dialogue than typical for an athletics funding project, especially in the wake of Gov. Eric Greitens’ plans to cut state funding for the UM system. One university source expected the measure to eventually pass but not without thorough discussion.

This project is being funded, obviously, through private donations, so cuts in state funding aren’t an actual issue here, but ... hoo boy, those funding cuts are vicious. It makes for quite the contrast.

More Links

• 2017 recruiting: PowerMizzou broke down film of Malik Young and Caleb Sampson, and B&G Illustrated talked to Sampson.
• 2018 recruiting: The Post-Dispatch looks at Mizzou’s top seven St. Louis area targets and reflects on a loaded STL. Meanwhile, Barry Odom is unsure of the effects of an early signing day, though I still lean toward saying it’s a good thing for the Mizzous of the world. Or at the least, it’s not a bad thing.
• Former Tiger alert, part 1: MTSU is pretty excited about Walter Brady.
• Former Tiger alert, part 2: Wes Clark will finish his career at Buffalo next year.
• Mizzou Hoops is in College Station tonight to take on Texas A&M (7:30 pm CT). Two wins = winning streak, right? (KenPom says there’s only a 13% chance of a second win in a row.) The Tigers hope to build on Saturday’s emotional win and keep their lounge chairs, and they don’t fear complacency ... which ... I mean ... they’re 6-16, so that probably shouldn’t be an issue. Sam did a Facebook Live hoops session last night, by the way, if you’re interested.

• The Women’s Intersport Network (WIN!) for Columbia gave out plenty of awards to Mizzou folks at a recent luncheon. And Hero Sports says Mizzou was January’s team of the month.
• Mizzou Softball has 10 Missourians on the squad.