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ATHLETIC ENHANCEMENTS: This is one rendering
of a Student-Athlete
Performance Enhancement Center (S.P.E.C.) that Intercollegiate Athletics proposed
during a Board of Regents Athletic Advisory Committee meeting March
20. Dependent upon fundraising efforts, the facility will be built at a cost
ranging from $25 million to $40 million. The goal is to have the facility open
and operating by August 2010.
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For many Eastern Michigan University athletes — from
women's soccer to football — their day of classes,
practice, study and meals can often leave them driving
to multiple locations and losing valuable time.
As the University envisions it, a
Student-Athlete Performance Enhancement Center (S.P.E.C.)
would be the solution to giving EMU's student-athletes
more study time to keep their grades at a high level and
offer the opportunity for EMU teams to be more competitive
and keep up with other Mid-American Conference schools,
which already have such facilities.
"This proposed concept would be
a multi-purpose, multi-use facility that each of our 500-plus
student-athletes would utilize. The concept includes an
academic support center, medical and strength conditioning
facilities, locker rooms for two of our women's teams,
as well as an indoor practice facility. Obviously, this
would help football. But, this is not a football-only facility," Gragg
stressed. "Most of our student-athletes have never been
able to properly practice indoors. It would be a facility
to benefit all EMU athletes. We have more than 500 student-athletes,
more than any other school in the Mid-American Conference."
A proposed concept for the S.P.E.C. was presented to the
Board of Regents' Athletic Advisory Committee March 20.
The proposal included three possible models, which would
be paid for through fundraising efforts by the athletics
department. Such a facility would be built on one of the
existing football practice fields, just north of Rynearson
Stadium.
Model 1 would cost an estimated $25 million, would entail
107,000 square feet, and include an academic center, indoor
practice facility, rental manager offices and public space.
Model 2 would cost an estimated $30 million and would
total 125,000 square feet. This model would include everything
in Model 1, plus football offices and team meeting rooms,
a classroom, and lockers for women's softball and women's
soccer.
Model 3 would cost an estimated $40 million and would
comprise 160,000 square feet. This version would include
everything in the first two models as space for sports
medicine, strength and conditioning area, expanded equipment
room, public/visitor lockers, and possibly serve as a location
for the Michigan High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame.
"Our goal is to at least reach the $25 million mark so
that we can build a facility that meets the most basic
needs of today's Division I student-athletes, said Craig
Fink, athletics development director. "Our athletes have
achieved so much with limited resources. Imagine what they
can do in the classroom and on the field if we can get
them on even footage, from a facility standpoint, with
the rest of the MAC. It is this concept that we believe
will motivate supporters and that, we hope, will help us
realize the entire vision for this project."
During the PowerPoint presentation, Fink showed
a chart of MAC schools that already have indoor practice
facilities and/or athletic performance centers. In-state
rivals Central Michigan and Western Michigan, as well as
Akron and Kent State, already have both.
Northern Illinois University will open the doors of its
new facility that includes an academic center for student-athletes,
a strength and conditioning facility, and coaches' offices
this August. Northern Illinois also has begun fundraising
efforts for a new indoor practice facility.
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UNDER THE ROOF: This rendering shows a
simulation of the EMU women's soccer team
practicing
in a future indoor practice facility during
the
winter months. The indoor practice facility would
be a component of a proposed Student-Athlete
Performance
Center. |
Bowling Green State University has an indoor practice
facility and construction on an athletic performance center
is nearing completion. Miami (Ohio) and Ohio University
each have an athletic performance center and both have
started movement toward an indoor practice facility. In
addition, the University of Buffalo has recently launched
efforts for a $60 million comprehensive athletic facility.
"A lot of it has to do with competitiveness, the
reason for this facility," Gragg said. "Central Michigan
University has said it has won over 30 athletic championships
since they built their facility. They've drawn a correlation."
If an indoor practice facility were built, Gragg said
football, baseball, softball, women's soccer and the two
golf teams would be able to practice there during the winter.
This would open up large blocks of time in Bowen Field
House for other student recreational and intramural activities.
In addition, Gragg said there are benefits of such a facility
to the broader community, including community engagement,
potential partnerships and academic/student support.
Gragg pointed to an indoor soccer facility in Wixom, which
typically draws approximately 20,000 constituents a weekend.
"If we can cut into that traffic and bring in perhaps
3,000 people a weekend, that's 3,000 'new' people we would
have coming to EMU weekly. This presents unique opportunities
for student recruitment," said Gragg, who envisions display
space for marketing materials about EMU's academic programs
and admissions set up in the lobby area of the new facility.
Rental revenue could be generated from soccer tournaments
and practice field rentals, with the money used for operations
of the new facility as well as support other areas of need
on campus.
Securing a major corporate partner to financially support
the S.P.E.C. will open up opportunities for all students,
faculty and staff in the areas of internships, career counseling,
financial planning seminars, and discounts on products
and services exclusive to EMU, Gragg said.
"All areas within the S.P.E.C. would have opportunities
for naming rights for donors, companies and foundations
that want to donate to this facility," Gragg said.
Some of these naming opportunities would be for the entire
complex and individually for the academic center, indoor
practice facility, turf field, academic center computer
lab, weight room and sports medicine area, Gragg said.
With a new facility, athletic academic services and coaches
for baseball, softball, women's soccer, men's and women's
golf, women's tennis and women's crew coaches could all
move their offices out of Bowen/Warner to the west campus.
This would open up new space in the center of campus for
other academic purposes, he said.
A full-size, state-of-the-art classroom in the new academic
center will have time available for academic programs,
such as sports management and others, to conduct classes.
Fink said fundraising for the facility is in its
early stages and that efforts would run through August
2008, the projected date for the start of construction.
Fink outlined a fundraising effort that would search
for two lead gifts in the $5 million to $20 million range,
followed by three-to-five gifts in the $1 million range.
Approximately 10-20 major gifts in the $100,000 range would
be sought as well as 20-30 gifts in the $10,000 range.
"Our timeline is very aggressive. It would get us in the
door in three years," Fink said. "To stay competitive in
the MAC, we don't have the luxury of waiting five to seven
years. Other schools in the MAC are completing fundraising
and construction for similar projects in even less time,
so we have to push forward as quickly as we can."
The performance enhancement center would require approval
from the Board of Regents and the state's Joint Capital
Outlay Subcommittee, which approves use and finance statements
for non-state funded capital projects costing more than
$3 million. If the current projected timeline stays on
track, construction would be completed in August 2010,
Fink said.
"We're excited that athletics will be a part of the
plans for the many significant construction/renovation
projects on the docket over the next several years. When
you look at the new student center and the future plans
for Mark Jefferson, Pray-Harrold, and the discussions pertaining
to a new Performing Arts Center, combined with the existing
Halle Library and Convocation Center...it's pretty remarkable,"
Gragg said. "EMU will be among the top schools in
the MAC from an academic and athletic facility standpoint."
