The Univ. of Colorado Board of Regents yesterday unanimously voted to approve the school's $143M facilities redesign and upgrade plan. The plan will see an indoor multipurpose practice facility added, the refurbishment of the Dal Ward Athletics Center, and the addition of a 21,900-square-foot sports center and a rooftop terrace at Folsom Field (CU). In Boulder, Sarah Kuta in a front-page piece notes the plan "is an update" from the $170M facilities proposal presented in February. CU AD Rick George said that more than $10M "has been pledged for the project from private donors so far." He added that the school will now "begin a public fundraising campaign to attract more donors and corporate partnerships." Kuta notes the upgrades "will be funded solely by the athletic department and by auxiliary, non-state funds." CU "will need to 'identify' roughly" $47M in donations "before construction can begin." Construction "could begin as early as next summer." George said, "We'd like to have this complete, hopefully in its entirety, by the time we start the fall of 2015." He added that the additions of a new end zone club, club seating and loge boxes at the Dal Ward Athletics Center "will generate an additional" $1M on gamedays. George said that the proposed indoor practice facility "can house several thousand tailgaters and can be rented out for conferences and events." Boulder campus officials said that the plan "will go before the Colorado Legislature's capital development committee for approval next year" (Boulder DAILY CAMERA, 12/5). George said that revenues also "would be derived by constructing a 12,000-square-foot retail area at the south end of Folsom Field." He said the upgrade "wasn't a want; it's a need." In Denver, Anthony Cotton writes CU's athletic facilities are "considered to be far below those of its peers in the Pac-12" (DENVER POST, 12/5).
