Report: Vanderbilt stadium upgrades stymied by administrators in favor of other projects

The Commodores currently play in the smallest stadium in the SEC

Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason and athletic director David Williams have been pushing the university for funding that will allow for Vanderbilt Stadium upgrades or a new stadium altogether. It hasn't happened yet, and it doesn't look like it will in the near future. Who's to blame? Vanderbilt's own administrators.

According to a report from The Tennessean, athletic fundraisers were told not to contact potential donors that could provide funding for educational and non-athletic projects. The university is currently in the midst of a $600 million capital project that does not include any athletic projects.

Mason commented on the status of potential football facility upgrades at SEC Media Days in Atlanta in July.

"I think we need to address it now because the skyrocketing costs of building are not going to go down in Nashville," Mason said. "We have to be smart and strategic and also work with a sense of urgency."

Vandy has been falling behind in the football facility arm's race for quite some time. Vanderbilt Stadium currently holds 40,550 -- the smallest home venue in the SEC -- and its last major upgrade other than a few cosmetic enhancements came in 1981.

"When you look at SEC stadiums, we are not in the same ballpark as the rest of them," Williams said in 2016. "That's not a secret."

But Vanderbilt chimed in at the No. 14 spot in the latest university rankings from U.S. News and World Report -- the only SEC school in the top 40 (Florida is No. 42). So it's really no surprise that administrators put more emphasis on academics and student life over the football program -- which has only reached the six-win mark five times this century. 

Will Mason get the facilities he's been working hard for behind the scenes? That remains to be seen. But it's a much bigger fight at Vanderbilt than it is at other schools.