Wilson’s ambitions are having a 50/50 chance of winning and following NCAA rules.
Sun Bowl renovations
- Thread starter Minerinciter
- Start date
Nevada athletics broke ground on its $12 million Eric and Linda Lannes Basketball Building last Friday, which will provide the Wolf Pack men's and women's basketball teams with locker rooms and a players lounge.
It's one of the most expensive facility projects in school history and included a record-setting $4 million gift from the Lannes family. That got us thinking about the top-five facility "must haves" as the Wolf Pack continues to improve its infrastructure. Below is a list of our facilities Nevada needs to add, which we discussed on last week's NSN Daily. You can watch that full segment below or watch our report on the Lannes building groundbreaking below that.
5. Track and field facility: Nevada's track at Mackay Stadium has been resurfaced a couple of times in the last decade, but the Wolf Pack needs a legitimate track that doesn't go under bleachers with a potential location on the old Manogue property, where track and field has some field practice areas.
4. Peccole Park renovation: The Wolf Pack got a new playing surface at Don Weir Field in 2018, but there's a need for a massive renovation that would create a new locker room, indoor batting cages and coaches offices down the third-base line.
. Indoor tennis courts: The city of Reno doesn't have indoor tennis courts, which makes winter practice all but impossible. Nevada did construct six on-campus outdoor tennis courts in 2016, the McArthur Tennis Center.
2. Soccer-only facility: Nevada soccer plays at Mackay Stadium, which is less than ideal. In a perfect world, it'd have its own facility with a grass pitch. Perhaps the Wolf Pack can partner with Battle Born FC's push for a stadium in north Reno.
1. Indoor football practice facility: This proposed facility has had several iterations over the last two decades. The recent publicly pushed model would be a $40 million-plus facility that would include all sports. The behind-the scenes push, however, has been for a roughly $10 million football-first facility that would be scaled down but more realistic. Montana is in the middle of constructing a similar building at a cost of $10.2 million. Nevada's project would be similar and could be the first phase of a larger indoor facility that would house all sports, although an indoor facility, even if it was football first, could still serve most sports on campus. With wildfire smoke becoming a staple of Northern Nevada's summers and falls, getting something built as quickly as possible is more of a "need" than a "want." Given the scaled-down version of a potential facility, the Wolf Pack has increased optimism this project could actually be completed relatively soon (although I've written that before).
Eh. The locker room are nicer than UTEP's but UTEP's massive weight room (and views) are much better.
Eh????? Lol. That facility is on a whole different level than what UTEP has. UTSA is progressing and UTEP is regressing.
Not the point. UTSA on the way 👆🏼. UTEP on the way 👇🏼. UTEP has little to nothing to show improvement wise since Senter’s arrival. In any facet of the athletics program. Not a damn thing.
Uh hello? Did you see the volleyball team made the secondary postseason tournament and sold out a game!!!!!
My bad. Give Senter a raise!!
Another raise? 😉 Let's at least wait for his 2030 UTEP Athletic Department Strategic Plan to come out first.
That plan will only be like 2 sentences.
Would be nice if @UTEPAthletics @UTEP would at least consider building indoor practice facility because of the summer months.
The renovation we needed but didn't deserve. Thank you so much Mr. Senter.
The University of Michigan has invested in a new lighting system at the school's historic football stadium that will bring fans exciting new visual experiences.
According to The Michigan Insider, the Big House is being fitted with an upgraded LED system that will allow for color-changing, music-synchronized light shows.
The new system is reportedly also brighter and provides more uniform lighting in addition to being energy efficient, a person with knowledge of the project told The Michigan Insider. The lighting will also be synchronized with the stadium's new scoreboards and sound system.
Musco Sports Lighting, which oversaw a similar project at Comerica Park in Detroit, is leading the project.
The new lighting is in addition to other improvements at the Big House, including:
- $8 million to fund “production room upgrades” inside the Crisler Center. Those facilities serve multiple different athletic venues, including the Crisler Center itself, Michigan Stadium, Yost Ice Arena, field hockey, soccer, indoor track, baseball and softball. The production room is also where Michigan produces content for the Big Ten Network and its digital platforms.
- $12 million to fund a replacement of the Michigan Stadium video boards in the north and south end zones.
- An additional $4 million to fund “permanent safety additions for access” to the new video boards.
- $5 million to be used to replace the audio system at Michigan Stadium. This includes the audio installations in the seating bowl and around the concourse.
- The estimated cost of site work and design fees is $12 million.
This is something UTEP needs to get done. It has been helpful as UNT works on building its program.
I think it's now laughable that UTEP doesn't have or even talked about an Indoor Practice Facility. High Schools, FCS, and low level FBS schools have or are building ones. It shows truly there is not a commitment from AD and President to the #1 money making sport and they have no intention to grow or improve the product. If there's a town meeting I hop someone speaks up honestly about why is this not being worked on? .... After posting this I saw Texas Tech doesn't have one either!? That's wild!
The Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority board has unanimously approved the purchase of a $5.048 million indoor track that will sit in the Reno-Sparks Convention Center every year from November-March and could draw some of the nation's best track athletes to Reno.
The track should make a huge impact for Nevada women's track and field, which will be expected to host four to six meets per indoor season. The Wolf Pack also is expected to put in bids to host the Mountain West and NCAA Championships, with the track potentially drawing U.S. Championship events.
The RSCVA has agreed to pay the $5 million purchase price with $1.864 million due in fiscal year 2024 and $3.184 million due in fiscal year 2025. The track is expected to be built in Italy by Mondo, a worldwide leader in building track surfaces, before it is shipped to Reno. The track's first use would come in November 2024. The Wolf Pack has agreed to transport and store the track to and from the RSCVA each winter in a climate-controlled environment, with part of that cost being offset by Nevada requiring less travel to compete during the indoor season.
Beyond the impact on the Wolf Pack, RSCVA officials believe the addition of the track will boost tourism in the city and bolster room nights in a typically slow season. The $5 million expense is roughly 10 percent of the RSCVA's annual budget, per Ben McDonald's, the RSCVA's senior director of communications and public affairs.
The addition is expected to be ready in fall 2024. — Nevada Sports Net
Facility Friday: $100M XL Center Arena Upgrades, Nevada Wolf Pack's $5M Indoor Track, Omaha's Championship Sports Complex
Connecticut state lawmakers recently approved over $100 million in upgrades ($20 million of which would come from private funding) for the 50-year-old XL Center arena.
www.athleticbusiness.com
We have zero chance of raising the money for most of this. If we could start small and at least get a dining hall where the young men can actually get the meals that the NCAA approved in 2014. That would be a huge help!
