College Sports

AUBURN — Construction crews will begin work on Auburn's new basketball arena on Monday, the start of a nearly 2-year building project.

Auburn athletic facility planning director Randy Byars said Wednesday the contract calls for a 720-day completion schedule. That would have it ready by sometime in July 2010. A formal groundbreaking hasn't been scheduled, but trailers have started appearing and construction fences are being erected.

It's projected to cost less than the estimated $93 million price tag, because the construction budget came in some $9 million less than the budget.

"We were a little nervous about the economy and the cost of materials and things like that," Byars said.

Athletic director Jay Jacobs led reporters on a tour Wednesday of the newly renovated football locker room that includes a lounge with a big-screen TV. The athletic complex is undergoing a $5 million renovation that includes upgrades of coaches' offices for the nearly 20-year-old building.

With rising costs, Byars said energy efficiency has been a priority for the arena, including a computerized lighting system.

"The amazing thing will be the efficiency compared to the coliseum," he said. "Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum has been anti-efficiency. Steam's blowing out everywhere. It's just an old facility and was built in a time when nobody cared about that."

Byars said the center court video board and other scoreboards are projected to cost $1.3 million.