Construction is scheduled to begin in February on a $6.3 million, 2,000-seat modern soccer stadium that is to open in August 2009.
The stadium will include a strength and conditioning complex beneath the stands. The stadium will be on the west side of the Ritchie Center and will be southwest of the Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
“It will add a real competitive environment in what I think is a very strong soccer community,” said men’s soccer head coach Bobby Muuss.
The project is being financed by a combination of private gifts and $1.5 million of university funds, according to Peg Bradley-Doppes, vice chancellor of Athletics and Recreation at the Ritchie Center.
This project was approved in early September, predating the university-wide hiring freeze, Bradley-Doppes said.
Although the turnout at soccer games numbers a few hundred fans, the stadium must be able to seat 2,000 in order to host NCAA tournaments.
“Right now, playing Friday afternoons isn’t the best way to get attendance,” Muuss said. “I think being able play at night and drawing the local community and having them come out and support the program. It will allow us to elevate to the next level. Where we want to get is to be one of the best teams in the country and most of those teams are playing at night.”
The stadium has not been given a name yet.
“The university contributed $1.5 million and that was in line with what the university has done with many other projects,” Bradley-Doppes said. “They did the exact same with the School of Education.”
“In today’s economy, when we ask donors to endow scholarships, buy season tickets, give corporate sponsorship and give annual funds, they want to know that the university is committed to this (the project) too.”
When fundraising for the project began, the university offered to match gifts of $1.5 million or more from donors, and did exactly that.
The $1.5 million of university money came from university plant funds and the capital improvements fund, both of which contain a pool of money where DU routinely contributes to help finance capital projects to improve the campus, Bradley-Doppes said.
Architectural plans show that the soccer stadium will have a faCB’ade of fieldstone and the traditional DU copper roof. The field will be lit for night games. The plans call for a synthetic, all-weather practice field, Adjacent to the grass playing field, that can be used by club sports in an effort to increase intramural recreation. The 10,000-square-foot strength and conditioning complex will serve all 17 of Denver’s varsity sports teams.
“I think this is a jewel in our crown of facilities,” said Bradley-Doppes. “When you look at our athletic facilities and our beautiful campus, we have not had a home for soccer. This is a tribute to the sport of soccer and to our soccer student-athletes and to our entire soccer community. We are a varsity program and all of our programs had adequate facilities, soccer’s was substandard.”
“I think it’s great. It’s going to be good for the program. I think it’s totally going to change the culture,” Collin Audley, junior men’s soccer player and alternate team captain.
The seating for the stadium willbe build on the west side of the Daniel L. Ritchie Center and east of the current soccer field, on the area that is currenly a grass hill.
The strength and conditioning complex, scheduled to open by 2010, will be located underneath the stands and connected to the Ritchie Center, similar to the area beneath lacrosse stadium that currently has men’s and women’s public restrooms, locker rooms, coaches offices and concessions. The strength and conditioning facility will include warm-up areas, weight lifting and cardio and rehabilitation station, an Olympic lifting station, a video room and a 60-yard turf field for speed and agility training.
“This is a great thing for all our sports programs because our varsity programs cannot use Coors Fitness. It will be much more conducive to bringing in a team of 30 and have them lift for an hour,” Bradley-Doppes said, who described the existing weight room as out of date and “antiquated.”
This location for the soccer stadium was part of DU’s master plan and takes advantage of existing electrical outlets and plumbing. These new additions to DU will also try to fall in line with the rest of the university’s plans for sustainability in looking at lighting efficiencies for both indoor and outside lights.
There have been individual donors that have given money specifically for the practice field, the soccer stadium, the conditioning complex, the lobby and the nine weight platforms.
Construction is scheduled to begin February 2009 and to be complete in time for the men’s team season-opening exhibition game against Stanford on Aug. 29 under the lights at 7 p.m.
