Last week, the University of Georgia announced an exciting plan to redevelop the Legion Pool and Legion Field area of our main campus. The plan follows the recommendation of a university working group that spent six months considering the best use of this important space, which is surrounded by residence halls, dining facilities and academic buildings in the center of campus. As two Bulldogs dedicated to supporting UGA students, we are thrilled with the announcement.
Under the plan, Legion Pool, its accompanying pool house and the Legion Field concert stand will be removed, while Legion Field will be enlarged to create an enhanced community greenspace and outdoor amphitheater. Serving as a “backyard” for first-year students living in nearby residence halls, this expanded greenspace will provide a beautiful area for students to gather, socialize and study at their home away from home. The amphitheater, meanwhile, will serve as a much-needed venue for concerts and events, as well as a wonderful outdoor programming site for the more than 850 student organizations at UGA.
Importantly, the project also provides additional parking in a thriving area of campus where thousands of students live, eat, gather and study. Just like faculty and staff, our students consistently identify parking as a critical challenge, and we are pleased the working group included parking as a small part of this project. With the addition of 70 parking spaces alongside a substantially expanded greenspace and new amphitheater, the redevelopment addresses a crucial need for students—many of whom prioritize parking to commute to and from jobs, internships and service-learning opportunities across the Athens community.
But the project will do more than expand greenspace and promote student wellbeing. It also resolves an untenable financial situation for our student body. Since 2019, annual visits to Legion Pool—by students, faculty, staff and community members alike—have declined by over 30%. With diminished use, Legion Pool’s net revenue losses exceeded $438,000 over the past five years, while the pool suffered a net loss of almost $90,000 in fiscal year 2025 alone. It is worth noting that extending the pool’s schedule into additional months—which the working group reviewed—would not cover these significant losses. Today, less than 2.5% of UGA’s student body utilizes the pool, while students constitute just 12% of the pool’s dwindling visits. Yet students have covered all of Legion Pool’s annual operating deficits. Even if UGA were to identify another funding source to support the pool, the result would be the same: fewer resources for our No. 1 priority—our students. And this is simply not right.
Last summer, Legion Pool lost more than 24,000 gallons of water every single day (and that’s a conservative estimate). According to an audit commissioned by the working group, the pool has immense structural deficiencies, and the report itemizes millions of dollars of investment needed to address these longstanding issues. Given that UGA students—who represent Legion Pool’s smallest user group by far—have long subsidized the facility’s operation and steep annual deficits, we cannot and will not advocate for further capital investment to rehabilitate the pool. Instead, we heartily endorse the recommendation of the working group, which thoughtfully considered numerous scenarios and ultimately selected a plan that prioritizes our students. In fact, when this project is complete, student activity fee reserves previously used to offset Legion Pool’s growing deficits will instead be reallocated to initiatives that directly benefit students, such as the UGA Food Pantry. On this point we want to be clear: Helping students in lieu of subsidizing Legion Pool not only fosters student wellness and success, it’s also the right thing to do.
We realize this project will inevitably spur conversation about UGA’s commitment to preserving important structures. Make no mistake, the University of Georgia is fully committed to historic preservation when it aligns with our mission and serves students. Over the past decade, UGA has invested over $160 million to modernize and preserve mid-century structures across Science and Ag Hill while investing $30 million to preserve the Holmes-Hunter Academic Building, a priceless treasure. In fact, our community celebrated when the Holmes-Hunter Academic Building renovation received numerous preservation honors, including Historic Athens’ Outstanding Restoration Award. But given our deep concern about Legion Pool’s dwindling usage, its subsidization by students, its structural failures and its profoundly negative environmental impact, we believe this long-overdue redevelopment is a wise strategy.
We thank the members of the working group, who devoted their time and energy to thoughtfully consider all options before presenting this exciting project, which should be completed in Fall 2026. Through this redevelopment, students will be provided a welcoming greenspace and a multi-purpose event venue alongside much-needed parking. More importantly, they will be provided with a revitalized area where life-long friendships are fostered, where cherished memories are formed, and where new avenues of engagement and connection are forged. This plan better serves students, and we are proud to support it.
Cook is UGA’s vice president for student affairs. Neely is the student body president.
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UGA Defends Decision to Demolish Legion Pool
Last week, the University of Georgia announced an exciting plan to redevelop the Legion Pool and Legion Field area of our main campus. The plan follows the recommendation of a university working group that spent six months considering the best use of this important space, which is surrounded by residence halls, dining facilities and academic buildings in the center of campus. As two Bulldogs dedicated to supporting UGA students, we are thrilled with the announcement.
Under the plan, Legion Pool, its accompanying pool house and the Legion Field concert stand will be removed, while Legion Field will be enlarged to create an enhanced community greenspace and outdoor amphitheater. Serving as a “backyard” for first-year students living in nearby residence halls, this expanded greenspace will provide a beautiful area for students to gather, socialize and study at their home away from home. The amphitheater, meanwhile, will serve as a much-needed venue for concerts and events, as well as a wonderful outdoor programming site for the more than 850 student organizations at UGA.
Importantly, the project also provides additional parking in a thriving area of campus where thousands of students live, eat, gather and study. Just like faculty and staff, our students consistently identify parking as a critical challenge, and we are pleased the working group included parking as a small part of this project. With the addition of 70 parking spaces alongside a substantially expanded greenspace and new amphitheater, the redevelopment addresses a crucial need for students—many of whom prioritize parking to commute to and from jobs, internships and service-learning opportunities across the Athens community.
But the project will do more than expand greenspace and promote student wellbeing. It also resolves an untenable financial situation for our student body. Since 2019, annual visits to Legion Pool—by students, faculty, staff and community members alike—have declined by over 30%. With diminished use, Legion Pool’s net revenue losses exceeded $438,000 over the past five years, while the pool suffered a net loss of almost $90,000 in fiscal year 2025 alone. It is worth noting that extending the pool’s schedule into additional months—which the working group reviewed—would not cover these significant losses. Today, less than 2.5% of UGA’s student body utilizes the pool, while students constitute just 12% of the pool’s dwindling visits. Yet students have covered all of Legion Pool’s annual operating deficits. Even if UGA were to identify another funding source to support the pool, the result would be the same: fewer resources for our No. 1 priority—our students. And this is simply not right.
Last summer, Legion Pool lost more than 24,000 gallons of water every single day (and that’s a conservative estimate). According to an audit commissioned by the working group, the pool has immense structural deficiencies, and the report itemizes millions of dollars of investment needed to address these longstanding issues. Given that UGA students—who represent Legion Pool’s smallest user group by far—have long subsidized the facility’s operation and steep annual deficits, we cannot and will not advocate for further capital investment to rehabilitate the pool. Instead, we heartily endorse the recommendation of the working group, which thoughtfully considered numerous scenarios and ultimately selected a plan that prioritizes our students. In fact, when this project is complete, student activity fee reserves previously used to offset Legion Pool’s growing deficits will instead be reallocated to initiatives that directly benefit students, such as the UGA Food Pantry. On this point we want to be clear: Helping students in lieu of subsidizing Legion Pool not only fosters student wellness and success, it’s also the right thing to do.
We realize this project will inevitably spur conversation about UGA’s commitment to preserving important structures. Make no mistake, the University of Georgia is fully committed to historic preservation when it aligns with our mission and serves students. Over the past decade, UGA has invested over $160 million to modernize and preserve mid-century structures across Science and Ag Hill while investing $30 million to preserve the Holmes-Hunter Academic Building, a priceless treasure. In fact, our community celebrated when the Holmes-Hunter Academic Building renovation received numerous preservation honors, including Historic Athens’ Outstanding Restoration Award. But given our deep concern about Legion Pool’s dwindling usage, its subsidization by students, its structural failures and its profoundly negative environmental impact, we believe this long-overdue redevelopment is a wise strategy.
We thank the members of the working group, who devoted their time and energy to thoughtfully consider all options before presenting this exciting project, which should be completed in Fall 2026. Through this redevelopment, students will be provided a welcoming greenspace and a multi-purpose event venue alongside much-needed parking. More importantly, they will be provided with a revitalized area where life-long friendships are fostered, where cherished memories are formed, and where new avenues of engagement and connection are forged. This plan better serves students, and we are proud to support it.
Cook is UGA’s vice president for student affairs. Neely is the student body president.
Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. Every dollar you give helps fund our ongoing mission to provide Athens with quality, independent journalism.
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