CHAMPAIGN — The $132 million Memorial Stadium renovation project that Illinois announced in October is now on the back burner, athletic director Josh Whitman revealed on Tuesday during a media roundtable at the Bielfeldt Athletic Administration Building. Instead, Illinois will break ground in early 2018 on a standalone football performance center that will be attached to the south end of the Irwin Indoor Practice Facility at the northeast side of Memorial Stadium.
Whitman estimated this project would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 million to $80 million, and the plan is for it to be completed in the summer of 2019.