The University of North Carolina's Board of Trustees approved the design for a first phase of plans to substantially expand the Tar Heels' football stadium.

The design, approved Wednesday, will add two floors to the Kenan Football Center complex on the west end of the field -- one floor of team and recruiting space and one of luxury suites. A large video scoreboard is also in the works but it's not clear exactly where it will go, athletic director Dick Baddour said.

The expansion will add a club area and 16-20 luxury boxes, a first for Kenan. All but two ACC football programs have premium seating, Baddour said. "We're one, and Duke is the other."

Officials plan to start the first phase at the end of this football season and finish it before the 2009 season begins.

Other phases of the project -- which need trustees approval later to begin -- will fill in the bowl's east end, add another video screen, and build an academic support center for athletes.

Baddour said the department's primary goal in the expansion was keeping Kenan beautiful. "People are always concerned about the beauty of Kenan Stadium," he said.

Baddour told the trustees the cost of the expansion was $22 million. After the meeting Bruce Runberg, associate vice chancellor for facilities planning, explained that number was an estimate for construction only, and said the total budget for the first phase is $50 million.

In its recent session, the state legislature approved that amount in debt.

Carolina has had tentative plans to renovate Kenan for years, but talk picked up after the university picked former NFL coach Butch Davis to head the football program. He's already been using expansion plans as a recruiting tool.