CU-Boulder Kicks Off Athletic Facilities Overhaul

BOULDER, Colo. — After a record-breaking year of private donations, the University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder) broke ground on a $143 million athletics facility expansion on May 12. The project will include several new athletics buildings and upgrades to the university’s Folsom Field.

“Thanks to the generosity of numerous donors, season ticket holders, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the university, we’re able to move forward with this project,” said Athletic Director Rick George in a statement. “It will greatly benefit our student athletes and will allow us to collaborate with both the campus and Boulder communities.”

The proposed facilities include a 120,000-square-foot indoor multipurpose practice facility on top of the school’s existing Franklin Field, housing a 100-yard artificial turf football field and a six-lane, 300-meter track.

Major refurbishments will also take place throughout the Dal Ward Athletics Center, completed in 1991. The building’s sub-basement will be renovated to include an Olympic sports strength training room, with new locker rooms and an equipment room on the field level. An extensive redesign of Dal Ward’s first floor will accommodate the addition of an Olympic sports and sports medicine complex, a leadership development center and an end zone club with club seating and loge boxes. The second floor will eventually triple the athletic department’s academic support system from its current 5,000 square feet to 15,000 square feet.

Folsom Field will also receive extensive renovations, including the addition of new restrooms and concession areas on the east side. A 21,900-square-foot high performance sports center will be added on the stadium’s northeast corner, joining a new rooftop terrace, and the existing south offices will be converted into retail space. The high-performance sports center will also host collaborative research conducted by CU-Boulder integrative physiology faculty and researchers at the University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus.

According to a release issued by the university, George was hired in August 2014 and set a goal of raising $47.6 million to serve as seed money for the project, with the remaining balance to come from bonds. The CU Board of Regents approved the facilities upgrades in December 2014, but required that one-third of the funds for the $143 million project be privately raised prior to construction. No tuition money or tax dollars will go toward the project.

“Our success in bringing in the kind of support necessary to do these renovations is due in no small part to our membership in the Conference of Champions, the Pac-12,” George said. “We are honored to celebrate this announcement with our partners in the Pac-12 Network as we move toward a great future in the conference.”