MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – From rodeos to basketball games, fans go to Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery to be entertained, but they cannot go year-round.
“It’s not air conditioned, so in here, you go late April through the whole summer, it’s 100 degrees in here,” said City Council President Charles Jinright.
The councilman said air conditioning is on the way, so fans can comfortably use the arena all 12 months of the year.
“We’re working on how to finance it right now,” Jinright said. “So I’ve got the engineers and the architects working on a price.”
Funding is also needed to replace some 10,000 stadium seats. It is all about making the coliseum more competitive with other event venues in the state.
LED lighting now hangs from the rafters, replacing the old mercury vapor lighting from around the 1950s. This lighting is more suitable for television cameras.
“We have been talking to ESPN for quite some time to connect a basketball tournament with our Camellia Bowl,” Jinright said.
It is another reason to bring in new locker rooms. They will open in March, just in time for high school basketball.
The city is also talking about adding a new elevator to the north side of the arena to make it more handicap-accessible.
“An elevator on the north side would put people on the second floor where they can go and see anything,” Jinright said.
A completion date is still up in the air, but Jinright believes all of the projects could be done by 2024.
Fans can check out some of these upgrades soon. The Harlem Globetrotters will play inside the Garrett Coliseum in December.
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