Regents approve Lacrosse, Track stadium designs

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

Release

Finally, after literally years of waiting for the renderings of what the lacrosse stadium will look like....it's here.

The lacrosse stadium will seat 2,000.

 

Behind the stadium is the Lacrosse team center.

 

 

 

Here is the map of the area that will be transformed.

The Regents also approved designs for the indoor Rowing practice facility, the new 2,000-seat Indoor Track Stadium an, a 500-seat outdoor track stadium and one of two performance centers.

Rowing facility 

 

Strength & Conditioning Performance Center

 

 

 

 

Outdoor (capacity: 500) and Indoor Track Stadium (capacity: 2,000)

 

 

goblue16

May 21st, 2015 at 6:20 PM ^

Nice although I thought the track fields were already approved when do they start building

Wolverine Devotee

May 21st, 2015 at 6:30 PM ^

It says the project will be done by winter 2018 in the article. 

So the 2015-16 season will be the last season of competition for the Indoor Track Building and season of existence for Ferry Field. 

Thanks for clearing that up awhile ago in that goodbye thread that was a year off. I had read a Daily article that said 2014-15 was the final year. 

gustave ferbert

May 21st, 2015 at 6:41 PM ^

with the Gymnastics facilities.  Golder has arguably the most successful program in the AD right now. They deserve more than the occasional renovations to Cliff Keen Arena

Wolverine Devotee

May 21st, 2015 at 7:54 PM ^

They will be getting a brand-new arena towards the end of the decade. It will be the final piece of the Victors For Michigan facility project.

It will replace Cliff Keen Arena and will be built on the site where U-M Indoor Track Building sits right now.

Cliff Keen Arena will be demolished and Weidenbach Hall will expand onto the site of the demolished Keen. 

Black Socks

May 21st, 2015 at 7:57 PM ^

Non revenue sports are getting Rolls Royce facilities.  Just thank the football team when you see them.

WolvinLA2

May 21st, 2015 at 8:02 PM ^

I'm glad they're pumping money into lacrosse.  I think that will be a good investment when lacrosse is a money maker and we're ahead of the curve in terms of facilities.  

 

I've heard a few lacrosse broadcasts this year where the announcers mentioned how awesome Michigan's lacrosse facilities will be, that they'll be the best in the country, and neither time was during a Michigan game.  We're making a splash.  

WolvinLA2

May 22nd, 2015 at 3:02 AM ^

That's the way it had been, but it's no longer like that. Many of the big hockey states now prefer lacrosse and lots of states outside of the tradition lacrosse geography are going crazy for the sport.

College baseball is what it is and will likely never get bigger and outside of only a few states no one cares about college hockey. Hockey also has far fewer big-fanbase schools running it.

However, the most populous states all have big time high school lacrosse (and therefore lots of lacrosse fans) and those states (California, Texas, Florida) will all have college lacrosse soon (technically FL already does, Jacksonville). D1 hockey additions are extremely rare but D1 lacrosse adds a few new teams every year.

Lacrosse is not a regional sport any longer. Last weekend was the NCAA quarterfinals which had two games in Denver and two in Annapolis. The attendance at the Denver site was actually larger (and not because of who played: both Maryland and Hopkins played in Annapolis).

gwkrlghl

May 22nd, 2015 at 6:02 AM ^

Baseball as #3 seems confined to the deep south, Texas, and California. Hockey as a #3 is limited to basically the far north and New England. Lacrosse will pass hockey in the midwest in no time at all. Even if baseball is a hold out in the Confederacy, I think Lacrosse will be the clear-cut #3 everywhere else within 10-20 years. It won't be long before the B1G and Pac12 have close to 100% participation ime. Lacrosse is too popular and too cheap to implement. All you technically need is your school's football field and you can go

WolvinLA2

May 22nd, 2015 at 11:30 AM ^

This year, there were 10 more D1 lacrosse teams than hockey teams, and the biggest difference there is that the teams that dominate lacrosse are predominantly large fanbse schools (Duke, Maryland, Syracuse, Notre Dame, UNC, etc) and although hockey has a lot of those as well, a lot more of the successful hockey schools have a limited, local fanbase (Minnesota St, North Dakota, Duluth, Providence, Omaha, St. Cloud).  Hockey has a handful of Power 5 schools, but only a few of them (Michigan, Minnesota and BC) are perennially at the top.  Once more Power 5 schools add lacrosse as is rumored, this gap will only widen. 

As far as college baseball - that's never really been that big, and it's certainly not getting any bigger.  There are some parts of the country, or certain fanbases, that love their college baseball, but even now I wouldnt' say it's #3.  Only the craziest of fans care about it before the CWS.

Leatherstocking Blue

May 22nd, 2015 at 3:53 PM ^

Given that lacrosse is ever increasing in popularity, it seems that a 2000 seat stadium will be too small by the time it is done, unless they still plan to use Michigan Stadium for the main games. It looks like there is no room for seat expansion either.

I would expect by 2018, Michigan would draw 5,000 fans regularly and 10,000 for key games.  

That's Just Kramer

May 21st, 2015 at 8:35 PM ^

The Strength & Conditioning Performance Center looks amazing. Some people were complaining recently that we needed a more modern weight room. This will definitely help us with that.

 

cutter

May 22nd, 2015 at 12:20 AM ^

According to the Freep (http://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/wolverines/2015/05/21/michigan-athletics-golf-clubhouse/27730151/), the Regents did not approve the design provided by the architects despite AD Jim Hackett's comments about the building's "smart design" and how it would be shown in architectural trade journals.

Some of the regents said the design "didn't fit in".  Regent Laurence Deitch said:

"It doesn't feel like a clubhouse," he said. "It feels like it is overwhelming this great course. I don't think it feels appropriate for a university. It lacks some modesty."

 

rposly

May 22nd, 2015 at 4:44 PM ^

I think we need to spray more block-Ms on every surface.  Wouldn't want the student-athletes forgetting where they are...