The Skyrocketing Price Tags Of New Sports Arenas

The University of Oregon, USC in Los Angeles, and the University of Central Florida are some of the schools that are facing sticker shock from long planned arenas that are now under construction.

"A building boom in China and rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Katrina have multiplied the cost of raw materials...[meanwhile,] college athletic departments build bigger and fancier arenas for their basketball teams. The trends have collided to produce eye-popping price increases."

"For example, HOK Sport designed a modern-looking, 8,000-seat arena at the University of Tulsa (Okla.) that cost $28 million in 1998. Less than 10 years later, the HOK-designed arena at Central Florida in Orlando that opens next year and is similar to Tulsa's will cost $80 million."