GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida is working on finalizing plans for three major facilities projects, with the construction of a new stand-alone football facility in the works, as well as a new baseball stadium and renovations to the softball stadium.

But athletics director Scott Stricklin is already thinking bigger picture and long-term plans for the entire program.

A big part of that thinking is modernizing the Swamp.

"There’s some low-hanging fruit from things I hear from fans right now, WiFi in the stadium, better sound system, better visual boards," Stricklin said. "Some of that is also tied to some things you might want to do long-term, whether it is bring some premium seating down closer to the field."

Some of the changes Stricklin has mentioned as possibilities would really alter things.

For one, he understands the need to make seating more comfortable for fans in this day and age as the options to comfortably watch games in style at home have improved and before more affordable.

"There was a time when, probably when the north end zone was done in the early ‘90s was part of that time, when seat count is all anyone cared about," Stricklin said. "Just cram as many people as possible in there. Obviously that is not, when you talk to people who do facilities and stadiums theses days, that’s not as important as quality and making sure you’re creating an environment that people want to come and participate in.

"The days of fans being OK sitting three hours on a really piece of aluminum I think are gone. So we’ve got to find ways to upgrade the overall quality."

Stricklin conceded that could mean potentially reducing the capacity in the Swamp a bit. For example, when the O'Dome was renovated to move from bleacher seating to chairbacks, capacity in the building dipped about 12 percent.

The Florida athletics director was quick to note, though, that he has heard few complaints about the changes to the basketball arena, suggesting he's open to something similar with football.

The other thing he'd like to do is modernize the concourses. Florida did that on the alumni side recently but has yet to do the same in other areas.

"What they did on the west side with the restrooms and concessions, we need to take that around the rest of the stadium," Stricklin said. "I think there’s an opportunity from an aesthetic standpoint to create some consistency all the way around the stadium. Right now depending on what side of the stadium you look at it kind of looks like a different facility, so to create some consistency there."

Stricklin knows all those changes are a lot to bite off, and it's why he's thinking now about plans that might be years off from implementation.

You have to start somewhere.

"They sound easy, but there are some challenges to each and every one of those," he said. "We’re going to put together a multi-year plan that after we finish these next three projects that will be our priority."

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