Williams-Brice renovations will displace thousands on west side. Here’s what we know
Within days — perhaps even hours — after South Carolina and Clemson wrap up their 2025 regular season at Williams-Brice Stadium, construction crews will descend upon the Gamecocks’ football stadium and begin work.
That moment will mark the beginning of the modernization of Williams-Brice Stadium, the start of a renovation project that will increase the stadium’s suite count from 18 to 42, drastically increase the premium space, widen the concourses, increase the number of bathrooms, provide an air-conditioned space for students, add a loading dock and on-site kitchen along with so much more.
For some fans, though, it might mark the final time they watch Gamecock football from the seats they’ve owned for years, even decades.
In mid-October, The Gamecock Club emailed every season-ticket holder on the west-lower side of the stadium (press-box side), informing them that “your current seating location at Williams-Brice Stadium will be impacted as part of the Williams-Brice Reimagined project.”
Here’s what that means.
At the moment, there are approximately 14,000 seats in the west-lower stands at Williams-Brice Stadium. In order to make room for additional premium space and two levels of suites, the renovations will eliminate about 4,100 seats from the west-lower stands — basically the top handful of rows. .
Rather than displace the 4,100 people whose seats are being lost, South Carolina is putting up for grabs every seat in the west-lower side.
That means any person who currently has season tickets on the west-lower side of Williams-Brice Stadium is not guaranteed to have those seats — or even sit on the west-lower — following the 2026 season.
The obvious question: Why does someone on the west-lower side need to be displaced if the renovation isn’t going to touch their seats?
Gamecock Club CEO Wayne Hiott said it wouldn’t be fair to only displace those whose seats will physically be affected. Hypothetically, Hiott said, why should someone in row 36 have to move, but the person in row 35 gets to stay in their seats?
“How do you justify that? You really can’t,” Hiott told The State. “So the decision was made by The Gamecock Club board, which is made up of Gamecock Club members, that we’ve got to reset and give those that are affected priority in the process, and work with them through the process to try and land them in the best place possible.”
OK, so what does that actually look like? Well, it’s complicated — especially considering that South Carolina is still unable to answer the two most-poignant questions for any current season-ticket holder on the west-lower side?
1. Will I be able to purchase the seats I currently sit in when the renovation is finished?
Maybe. When the seat-selection process for the 2027 season takes place, Hiott said, those with the most Gamecock Club priority will have the first pick — the same as every other year.
And when the priority order gets to someone who currently has season tickets on the west-lower side, they can certainly purchase comparable seats, if they’re available.
But if a current west-lower season-ticket holder wanted to get ahead of the relocation, they could also choose new seats during the 2026 selection process and have priority over anyone everyone who’s currently not in the west-lower.
2. How much are the west-lower tickets going to cost after renovations?
“The market is going to dictate that,” South Carolina Athletic Director Jeremiah Donati told The State. “If the market is soft, then the (price) won’t be high. If there’s a demand, then that’ll help dictate a higher price.”
What does that mean? Well, South Carolina is selling its post-renovation seats in order of cost. So the demand for Founders Suites will dictate how much USC charges for regular suites. Its demand for those will determine how much it charges for premium spaces. Demand for that will influence the price for the west-lower seats. And so on.
So, Hiott said, the cost of west-lower tickets could very well be the same price they are right now.
Regardless of whether that happens or not, though, the west-lower seats will be vastly improved.
“There’s new concourses,” Hiott said. “There’s new concessions. There’s new bathrooms, those sort of things. And there’s less people on that concourse too, because of the new seats and displacement.”
The emotional effect
Stewart Kennemore and his best friend, Jackson Sawyer, graduated from South Carolina in 2014 and turned into the alums athletic departments dream of: They got jobs and immediately purchased Gamecocks football season tickets.
Sure, they were up in section 508 not paying much. But they were there. And when more money started flowing in, they upgraded their season tickets, moving to section 8, row 10 in 2018. They’re on the Gamecock Club payment plan, pitching together $215 a month for 10 months to secure their seats.
For a decade now, Saturdays at Williams-Brice have become tradition. Kennemore drives down from Greenville. Sawyer drives up from Charleston. They meet up in Columbia and, like so many inside Willy-B, have made friends with the people who sit around them.
And like many conversations around the west-lower stands on Saturday afternoon, Kennemore and those with season tickets around him were irate over the Gamecock’s Club email that they might have to move seats.
The email told all season-ticket holders to contact their Gamecock Club account representative, which Hiott also recommends. So Kennemore and Sawyer did just that.
“We could not get an answer. No solution,” Kennemore said. “Nothing. Just pretty much telling us that we’re screwed. ... It was to the point where we were asking him, ‘Are they going to be more?’ All he kept saying was that, yes, the ticket was going to be more.”
Of course, Kennmore understands that he might still be able to purchase west-lower tickets during the 2027 seat selection. But at what cost? Kennemore was unaware of Donati and Hiott‘s explanation that demand determines price and the seats might actually not be more expensive.
But, he said, his Gamecock Club rep didn’t convey that.
“It felt like, when we were talking to the guy, that he was trying to direct us to get us out of section 8 to somewhere in the upper deck,” Kennemore said. “And we explained to the kid, either we have these seats at the price we have them — or whatever small increase — or we’re not going to the games anymore.”
Kennemore is not alone in making that threat.
Charlie Page Jr. and his son have been South Carolina season-ticket holders for eight years, all at their current seats in section 9, row 4. For weeks now, Page has been calling the Gamecock Club trying to get some specifics on what’s happening with his seats.
The Gamecock Club is preaching patience. All the conversations about relocation and pricing and all of that, Hiott says, will come long before any season-ticket holders have to make decisions.
But many fans, like Page, want answers now. And the alternative options, such as moving to the upper deck or the east side, aren’t enticing.
“The people who are loyal and there every game are the ones that are getting displaced,” Page said. “(My son) is to the point where he says, ‘Dad I don’t know if its worth keeping it.’”
“We’re to the point,” Page added, “that we’re going to hit the portal. And we’ve even thought about becoming East Carolina Pirates fans. East Carolina has a nice stadium, nice community around it. Maybe we go there and support them.”
Relocation of season-ticket holders at any school in America rarely goes over well with fans. It can be especially difficult when the football team is playing as bad as the Gamecocks (3-4, 1-3 SEC) are this season.
“I think most people understand that you’re not buying season tickets or being a member of the Gamecock Club for a flash in the pan,” Hiott said. “You’re in it for the long haul.”
Hiott understands the frustration from every season-ticket holder on the west-lower side who might be displaced in two years. He’s also had a number of conversations with those season ticket-holders, talks that begin with a lot of “apprehension and hand-wringing” and end with a solid plan.
Yet, Hiott still encourages every season-ticket holder to contact their rep with questions.
“We certainly have a lot of sympathy for those folks,” Hiott said. “A lot of those folks that have had seats for a long, long time are just like the members of our Gamecock Club board that have had to make this decision with a lot of information a lot of time.”
This story was originally published October 21, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
