A price break on the Pauley Pavilion renovation

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UCLA administrators have been saying for months that a sluggish economy could help when it came time for construction companies to bid on the renovation of Pauley Pavilion.

Today, the university announced that the project is now expected to come in almost $50 million under initial estimates, dropping the price tag to $136 million.

But the bad times aren’t all good; the athletic department has stalled around the $65-million mark in its effort to raise $100 million.

With a groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for Tuesday, Athletic Director Dan Guerrero said ‘we anticipate that we will see a wave of loyal Bruins’ joining the more than 600 supporters who have already donated.

-- David Wharton