The Univ. of Maryland plans to convert Cole Field House into an indoor football practice facility and "innovation" lab to "help the school recruit athletes and others who are would-be entrepreneurs," according to Jeff Barker of the Baltimore SUN. The 59-year-old former basketball arena "would be reborn" under the $155M plan that is designed to help UM's athletics program "keep pace with its Big Ten Conference rivals." The plan aims to give UM "an edge by creating a campus-wide entrepreneurship program to be housed in the football building." The project, which is "awaiting Board of Regents approval, is to be funded in part" with $25M in state funds and $25M from UM -- to be "repaid from Big Ten revenues." The rest would be "privately funded." UM alum and Under Armour Founder, Chair & CEO Kevin Plank said that he "plans to write a large check." Plank: "But I'm not writing the whole thing. We're all in this thing together. Everybody's got to put skin in the game." Barker notes the plans were made public yesterday "in advance of a finance committee meeting Thursday when they will be discussed." The full board is "expected to consider them in December." Cole would be "gutted, but the building's iconic name and front facade would be preserved." Sources said that the practice facility is expected to have "uses beyond football and may wind up with a catchy nickname: 'The Shell.'" The project's first phase -- "converting Cole into a practice field -- is targeted for completion" in April '17. The second phase will see "construction of the larger training complex, a sports medicine center and the innovation lab." Two natural-grass practice fields would be "built just outside Cole where there are now tennis courts and parking lots" (Baltimore SUN, 11/18).
