FAU 'cautiously optimistic' it can get stadium deal
Tom D'angelo Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Posted: 9:25 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010

BIRMINGHAM, ALA. — Florida Atlantic officials are counting down the days to a possible final step for securing a 30,000-seat on-campus stadium.

Still, nothing is assured.

"It's been a long time coming, but we're still holding our breath to see how it turns out," Athletic Director Craig Angelos said before Thursday's season opener at Alabama-Birmingham.

"We are cautiously optimistic. I am not getting my hopes up, not until after that date. We still have a little bit of ground to cover."

That date is Sept. 16, when the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state university system, will vote to grant the final approval of the stadium.

The stadium cleared a major hurdle in July when the university's Board of Trustees approve a financing plan in which the university will borrow about $44.6 million from Regions Bank. The project is expected to cost a total of about $70 million, with about $20 million coming from the university and University Foundation and $5 million from the related Innovation Village student housing project budget.

If approved, the next step is to close the loan with Regions Bank, which should come about two weeks later.

with the architects and pinpoint a date for the unveiling. Ideally, the stadium would be ready for the first possible home game on Sept. 17, 2011. The possibility exists that the stadium might not be ready until October 2011.

Still, Angelos' optimism is guarded.

"Anything could happen, but we're still hopeful," he said.