Florida announced a $100 million plan on Friday to revamp its athletic facilities, including building a stand-alone football complex and renovations to its baseball and softball stadiums.
UF athletic director Jeremy Foley presented the plan to the University Athletic Association board on Friday, but said Florida still needs a way to fund the project. The most likely path, Foley said, will come from borrowed money and donations.
“I think there’s a lot of momentum building in our program on different levels, and I think these things are going to keep us moving forward,” Foley said.
The new football facility will be built to the north of Florida’s James G. Pressly Stadium and next to the Sanders Practice Fields, and will include a lobby, weight room, training areas and a player locker room.
The new 100,000-square-foot football complex, which will also contain a player nutrition station, will be built next to a new dining hall, reserved for Florida’s varsity student athletes.
Additions to Florida’s baseball stadium will feature shade structures over portions of McKethan Stadium seating, additional seats behind home plate and an expanded press box.
And Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium will receive up to 1,000 additional seats for softball games, upgraded team facilities, chair-back seating behind home plate and an expanded press box.
“There’s momentum building here,” Foley said. “Obviously winning helps.”
Florida’s athletic-facilities proposal comes nearly a year after UF completed its $17 million indoor practice facility and three months before its $64.5 million O’Connell Center renovations are set to be complete in December.
“At the end of the day, obviously these things are going to help us recruit, help us be successful,” Foley said. “These facilities will enhance that, but it's not the end-all, be-all. If you have good coaches, you're going to get good athletes, and we've shown that time and time again around here."
Contact Ian Cohen at icohen@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @icohenb.
A rendering of Florida's plan for a new stand-alone football facility.
A rendering of Florida's proposed additions to McKethan Stadium.
