Indoor Practice Field And Weight Training Facility

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February 29, 1988

Indoor Practice Field And Weight Training Facility

West Lafayette, Ind. -- Plans are under way at Purdue University for the construction of an indoor practice field and weight training facility.

Purdue will join seven other schools in the Big Ten conference that already have such a facility or are constructing one, said Frederick Ford, university executive vice president and treasurer. The university's Board of Trustees approved the construction project at its meeting Friday (1/29).

Construction, however, will not begin until sufficient gifts have been provided for this project, Ford said. Once construction begins, he said, it will take about 14 months to complete the facility.

Located just north of the existing Intercollegiate Athletic Facility, the new structure will provide a year-round practice field adjacent to the natural turf football practice field.

The building will include an artificial playing surface of regulation size. A covered walkway will connect the new facility with the existing building's locker room. Also included within the facility will be a weight-training room with a floor overhead to allow for future office expansion.

Estimated cost for the structure is $6 million, to be paid from gift funds and Intercollegiate Athletic Department earnings. No state tax dollars will be involved, Ford said.

"The building will provide the Athletic Department with much more than a weather-protected year-round varsity football practice facility," said George King, director of the Division of Intercollegiate Athletic Administration. "The baseball squad, marching band, cheerleaders and other athletic groups will benefit from this structure," he added.

The new facility, he said, will offer immediate relief to the overcrowded conditions at Lambert Field House, which is currently being used by numerous groups as well as classes.

The project, King said, will also have a major impact on Purdue's football recruiting effort, putting the university on equal footing with the other Big Ten schools at recruiting time.

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu


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