The Univ. of Memphis on Thursday "held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new indoor football practice facility" after more than five years of "fundraising and multiple delays," according to Tom Schad of the Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL. UM AD Tom Bowen said that the facility "will help Memphis keep pace in the American Athletic Conference." The official timeline for construction of the facility is 14-20 months. Schad notes Memphis is also "building a new basketball practice facility, which is expected to be available for use during the upcoming season." The two facilities are "part of the university’s 'Time to Shine' capital campaign," a $40M endeavor that was publicly announced in August '15. Though Memphis "announced at the time that it would break ground on both facilities later that fall, construction of the football facility was delayed more than a year." The new facility "will allow the coaching staff to spend their days at the same facility and be more easily accessible for players" (Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL, 4/28).
MEMBERS ONLY: Colorado State officials on Thursday said that fans have "already purchased nearly all the seats between the goal lines on the west side of CSU's new on-campus stadium" for the '17 season and about 80% of all of the seats that require a donation. In Colorado, Kelly Lyell notes only 100 of the 1,200 memberships ($200 apiece) to the New Belgium Porch "were still available, and only about 30 of the 600 memberships at $400 apiece for the OCR Club located behind the Colorado State University team bench remained." Those memberships are "add-ons available only to season ticket-holders" (Ft. Collins COLORADOAN, 4/28).
IT'S A START: Purdue received $4.6M in donations from 1,210 gifts during the school's fourth-annual Day of Giving on Wednesday, an athletics department record. The dollar amount represents an increase from last year's total of $3.4M from 778 donors (PU).
