http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/...pprov.html

Huge day for UAB football. Received BOT committee approval for a $22.5M football practice facility which will consist of a 46k sq ft fieldhouse, one covered turf field, one outdoor turf field, and an 80 yard grass field.

As of this morning, $18.27M has been raised from donors. The facility is expected to be ready before the 2017 season.

Amazing how far UAB football has come in the 18 months since the shutdown.

Also got approved for a $1M new grandstand/press box for our softball field.

Congratulations Blazers! Very good news indeed.

The shutdown is the best thing that happened to UAB football in decades. None of this would be happening without it. Hope the fans show up for the long haul this time. The coach and the die-hards deserve it.

Fantastic.

Congratulations. Renderings look great.

Congrats! Looks great.

Did you guys use the same marketing team that came up with New Coke?

So I have to ask... prior to shutdown, it seemed to me that "practice facility" wasn't the greatest need for UAB football. The biggest issue seemed to be playing in ancient Legion Field that was 4 or 5 times too big for what was needed with no atmosphere or amenities. From the dollars mentioned here, you would have been close to half of the funding to follow a similar path to what Charlotte has done. I would have thought you'd look for an on campus, modern stadium that you would be able to fill and create an atmosphere would have been the desired goal for a relaunch. Am I missing something?

Good deal. Makes sense, given the climate, you wouldn't need a fully enclosed facility and gives a lot of options on moving units around to different areas

Nice looking facility. Congrats, Blazers.

(06-16-2016 05:36 PM)CoachMaclid Wrote:  So I have to ask... prior to shutdown, it seemed to me that "practice facility" wasn't the greatest need for UAB football. The biggest issue seemed to be playing in ancient Legion Field that was 4 or 5 times too big for what was needed with no atmosphere or amenities. From the dollars mentioned here, you would have been close to half of the funding to follow a similar path to what Charlotte has done. I would have thought you'd look for an on campus, modern stadium that you would be able to fill and create an atmosphere would have been the desired goal for a relaunch. Am I missing something?

I never thought Legion Field was our biggest problem. Our guys were practicing on the campus of other local colleges whenever it rained. There was one weight room shared by every single sport. The tiny coaches offices were housed in a building that looks like a dentist office. This is a huge deal.

Legion Field has turf and stands. That will have to do for now.

(06-16-2016 06:07 PM)banker Wrote:  Good deal. Makes sense, given the climate, you wouldn't need a fully enclosed facility and gives a lot of options on moving units around to different areas

I think the plan is to enclose at a later date. With the covered pavillion, we will have the footprint for all the practice facilities.

(06-16-2016 05:36 PM)CoachMaclid Wrote:  So I have to ask... prior to shutdown, it seemed to me that "practice facility" wasn't the greatest need for UAB football. The biggest issue seemed to be playing in ancient Legion Field that was 4 or 5 times too big for what was needed with no atmosphere or amenities. From the dollars mentioned here, you would have been close to half of the funding to follow a similar path to what Charlotte has done. I would have thought you'd look for an on campus, modern stadium that you would be able to fill and create an atmosphere would have been the desired goal for a relaunch. Am I missing something?

The board has said they will not approve bonds for an on-campus stadium. Our foundation is working with the city on a new open air stadium downtown next to the convention center (probably 1-2 miles from campus). It will start out at 45k (expandable to 55k-60k) and should have all the modern amenities and revenue sources (boxes, club seats, etc.) We would prefer a 35k on-campus stadium, but the one downtown will be a huge improvement.

Thanks guys. I know most of you already have a practice facility similar to this, but a facility of this caliber is something UAB has always lacked. It'll make a big difference for our program.

(06-16-2016 04:09 PM)12thmonarch Wrote:  Congratulations Blazers! Very good news indeed.

Thank you...Heard that ODU is unveiling plans for a new football stadium...Hope that it comes to fruition...Looking forward to a road trip to watch a Blazers - Monarchs Football game...

(06-16-2016 06:45 PM)blazer-J Wrote:  

(06-16-2016 05:36 PM)CoachMaclid Wrote:  So I have to ask... prior to shutdown, it seemed to me that "practice facility" wasn't the greatest need for UAB football. The biggest issue seemed to be playing in ancient Legion Field that was 4 or 5 times too big for what was needed with no atmosphere or amenities. From the dollars mentioned here, you would have been close to half of the funding to follow a similar path to what Charlotte has done. I would have thought you'd look for an on campus, modern stadium that you would be able to fill and create an atmosphere would have been the desired goal for a relaunch. Am I missing something?

The board has said they will not approve bonds for an on-campus stadium. Our foundation is working with the city on a new open air stadium downtown next to the convention center (probably 1-2 miles from campus). It will start out at 45k (expandable to 55k-60k) and should have all the modern amenities and revenue sources (boxes, club seats, etc.) We would prefer a 35k on-campus stadium, but the one downtown will be a huge improvement.

All This!

(06-16-2016 06:24 PM)BeliefBlazer Wrote:  

(06-16-2016 05:36 PM)CoachMaclid Wrote:  So I have to ask... prior to shutdown, it seemed to me that "practice facility" wasn't the greatest need for UAB football. The biggest issue seemed to be playing in ancient Legion Field that was 4 or 5 times too big for what was needed with no atmosphere or amenities. From the dollars mentioned here, you would have been close to half of the funding to follow a similar path to what Charlotte has done. I would have thought you'd look for an on campus, modern stadium that you would be able to fill and create an atmosphere would have been the desired goal for a relaunch. Am I missing something?

I never thought Legion Field was our biggest problem. Our guys were practicing on the campus of other local colleges whenever it rained. There was one weight room shared by every single sport. The tiny coaches offices were housed in a building that looks like a dentist office. This is a huge deal.

Legion Field has turf and stands. That will have to do for now.

That makes for a brutal situation and I say that as USM was in the same situation up until a little over 5 years or so ago. Football had priority which meant "other" sports were always working around their schedule that usually meant weight room times at lunch or when football was practicing around 4:00 PM (which is usually the time that most sports practice). For USM the men and women's basketball teams along with volleyball now have a weight room they share in the basketball arena, softball added a weight room to their indoor hitting/pitching facility, and baseball built their own weight room facility. This leaves the main weight room in our athletic center for football along with the m/w golf, m/w tennis, w soccer, and m/w track teams. The athletic center weight room just finished an expansion/renovation that added what once was the visiting team locker room so it's not as bad as it once was.

UAB actually has two weight facilities for athletics: one in Bartow Arena and another in the old Bell Gym, across from Bartow Arena. This will allow for the next step, which is a massive renovation of basketball practice and training facilities.
Softball is getting a huge stadium upgrade, track and soccer are about to have brand new facilities... UAB athletics is really trying to do something special for its student-athletes by providing new facilities for everyone within a five-year time frame. Things are getting serious on the Southside.

(06-16-2016 06:45 PM)blazer-J Wrote:  

(06-16-2016 05:36 PM)CoachMaclid Wrote:  So I have to ask... prior to shutdown, it seemed to me that "practice facility" wasn't the greatest need for UAB football. The biggest issue seemed to be playing in ancient Legion Field that was 4 or 5 times too big for what was needed with no atmosphere or amenities. From the dollars mentioned here, you would have been close to half of the funding to follow a similar path to what Charlotte has done. I would have thought you'd look for an on campus, modern stadium that you would be able to fill and create an atmosphere would have been the desired goal for a relaunch. Am I missing something?

The board has said they will not approve bonds for an on-campus stadium. Our foundation is working with the city on a new open air stadium downtown next to the convention center (probably 1-2 miles from campus). It will start out at 45k (expandable to 55k-60k) and should have all the modern amenities and revenue sources (boxes, club seats, etc.) We would prefer a 35k on-campus stadium, but the one downtown will be a huge improvement.

The city of Birmingham was a powerful ally, from the mayor and council on down to the cop on the street. They wanted a new stadium downtown with UAB as its primary tenant, and that was a reasonable request given what they'd done to make this happen.

Bryant Junior is rolling over in his grave today.