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Austin Peay Sinkhole Story Blown Out of Proportion

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Mike Tuttle

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After a sinkhole opened up at the edge of the football field in Governors Stadium at Austin Peay University, it made news headlines. But, as the school’s athletic director said, it wasn’t the big event the media made it out to be.

The sinkhole, starting out only about 3 feet by 5 feet with a 5 foot depth, had to be dug out more by construction crews to find stable bedrock in order to fill the hole with rock, concrete, and sub-grade asphalt. The hole expanded 40 feet deeper and 40 feet wider.

“(It’s) not something you want to get national attention for,” Athletic Director Derek van der Merwe said. “How this has been portrayed is that this is a hole that has just all of a sudden appeared, and that’s not the case.”

Because the school’s football stadium was already under renovation, it really wasn’t a major event. School officials even say that the sinkhole should not delay the $16.9 million renovation.

To make light of the situation, Van der Merwe joked about the recent stadium sinkhole on Twitter.

Others also joined in on the fun via Twitter.

But, although no one was injured, Middle Tennessee does in fact have a problem with sinkholes due to the amount of underground limestone caves and that the type of rock below the surface tends to be a very dissolvable sedimentary rock, comprised primarily of minerals.

Last August, another sinkhole opened up on Peay’s campus near the Maynard Mathematics Center. Smaller sinkholes have also been found in the parking lot of Governors Stadium.

All sinkholes around the football stadium are expected to be repaired by mid-September, just in time for the football season’s home opener.

Image via Twitter

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