Williams-Brice Stadium will soon have new club seating. How much will it cost?
The majority of the improvements in the three-phased renovation of Williams-Brice Stadium will happen in the first two phases, which account for $300 million of the $350 million project.
Phase one, which is expected to be finished in August, will enhance the stadium experience of every fan who walks through Williams-Brice Stadium. There will be wider concourses, upgraded bathrooms, more spots to buy food and drink. On and on.
Phase two, which will begin after the 2026 football season and is set to wrap up before USC kicks off in 2027, will not directly touch every fan. It will, instead, address the crux of why the renovation was so desperately needed: Premium seating.
Williams-Brice Stadium currently has the fewest suites of any SEC football stadium (18) and the lowest percentage of premium-seating options of any school in the conference. Phase two will directly address that, adding 54 total suites (which includes 12 outdoor loge suits) and new 100-level and field-level club spaces.
When just accounting for South Carolina increasing its indoor suite allotment from 18 to 42, according to calculations by The State, the Gamecocks would make about $3 million more annually from its suites post-renovation than what it currently makes — and that doesn’t even factor in additional capital donations.
When accounting for the 12 additional loge suites and all the additional club space South Carolina is adding, it’s reasonable to assume the school will pull in — at least — an additional $5 million from its premium seating. That added revenue is crucial right now, as athletic department budgets are skyrocketing in the revenue-sharing era.
Though the new spots won’t be available until the 2027 season, South Carolina is selling those premium options. That began last fall, when they began offering the range of suites — starting with the 40-person Founders Suites, which required a $10 million capital gift (paid over 10 years) along with a $150,000 annual payment.
The Gamecocks’ entire suite allocation — which also includes 20-person and 14-person indoor suites along with four- to eight-person loge suites — has nearly sold out, and South Carolina has begun to sell 100-level club tickets. The State obtained the pricing chart for those 100-level club seats and confirmed the details with contacts at South Carolina. Here are the details:
What is the 100-level club?
As part of the phase-two renovations, South Carolina is removing the top 10 rows of seating in the west-lower side of Williams-Brice Stadium. Though it’s not an exact trade-off, the 100-level club space will essentially go in place of where the top rows of the west-lower seats are currently located.
Folks in the 100 level will have access into two enclosed clubs, where there will be free food, beer and wine (with liquor drinks available to purchase).
It should be known, too: The high-end clubs that are currently located on the west side of Williams-Brice Stadium (the Champions Club and Executive Club) averaged about 7 square feet per person. The new 100-level clubs will provide twice as much space per person. And considering the new 100-level club will be at the top of the west-lower bowl, the view will be much-closer to the field.
How much will 100-level club seats cost?
Pricing varies by location, with views closer to midfield ($5,500 per seat) costing more than those at the goal line ($4,000 per seat).
There is also a $4,000 and $4,500 price point for “ledge seats,” which is in the top row of the 100 level (closer to the club) where fans sit in a captain’s chair with a bar top in front of them.
All 100-level club seats also require a tax-deductible capital gift, which ranges from $10,000 to $15,000 paid out across five years — and those kinds of fees aren’t completely foreign. Currently, to purchase a seat in the Champions Club, a $7,500 capital gift per seat (paid out across five years) is required along with a $1,500 gift to the “Stadium Enhancement Fund.”
Another thing to consider: Folks who want to purchase 100-level club seats will also likely have to be at least at the Silver Spur giving level ($4,000 a year) in the Gamecock Club.
A USC Athletics source have said 100-level club sales are tracking in line with expectations. Whether that means that current premium-seat holders are content paying the extra price or sales are coming South Carolina fans who have been waiting for an opportunity to upgrade their seats is yet to be seen.
When asked by The State in May what he would tell fans who understand that change inside Williams-Brice necessary, but may argue that the price of this change is too much, South Carolina AD Jeremiah Donati said that, having been through stadium renovations before, “what I have learned is that the fans want to be heard. So you just try to be a good listener.”
“Unfortunately, you can’t do all these projects without adding costs in certain places that’s passed along to the fans, and that’s just part of the business,” he added. “But I think our team’s done a really good job of opening communication with our fans. I think at the end of the day, they’ll be really excited about what the final product is. The part that is hard is picking new seats, and potentially moving.”
How does that compare to current pricing?
The new 100-level club seats will be more expensive than South Carolina’s current premium offerings. For starters, the capital gift requirement jumped significantly — in some cases, doubling to $3,000 a year.
For the 2026 season, a spot in the Champions Club costs $2,390, and a 30-yard line seat in the Executive Club will run you $2,180.
Tickets in the 100-level club of the renovated Williams-Brice Stadium will require between $4,000 and $5,500 per seat.
What does the selection process look like?
This is not a typical selection process, where The Gamecock Club has five people selecting seats every five minutes. This is more methodical, with the Gamecock Club inviting maybe 12 people daily to the Williams-Brice Reimagined preview center to look at premium options. It began on June 1 with the 30 Lifetime Silver members and will end with the Silver Spurs on Sept. 24.
They are going in order of Gamecock Club priority level — with one exception. Anyone at the Silver Spur level whose west-lower seats will be impacted by the renovation will be allowed to pick ahead of any Silver Spurs who don’t have impacted seats.
And speaking of the nearly 14,000 west-lower seats that will be impacted, some fans have already opted to move their season tickets for the 2026 season to get ahead of the selection process. For those who want to remain in the west-lower, that selection process is expected to begin early in the spring and, according to the USC Athletics source, those displaced fans who don’t pick another west-lower seat will still be able to pick a seat somewhere in the lower level.
“I really have a lot of empathy for fans that have had multi-generations sitting in the same seats, the same area (and) the thought of moving is, it’s not fun,” Donati said. “I definitely can appreciate that but, I’ve said this before, nothing will come from nothing.
“We had to do this,” he continued. “I’m so grateful that we’re doing this project now because, given the increased cost of doing everything, like we were so far behind that had we waited longer the project cost would have gone up and it would have been difficult to execute this in, say, two or three years from now.”
This story was originally published July 16, 2026 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Williams-Brice Stadium will soon have new club seating. How much will it cost?."
