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LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — The University of Wyoming announced plans for a $44 million expansion and renovation of its athletic training and student-athlete facilities on the Laramie campus.
The new addition will be called the High Altitude Performance Center will be built on to the current Rochelle Athletics Center on the north end of War Memorial Stadium. It will triple the size of the current facility.
The university plans to finance the project by raising $24 million in mostly private donations and by the state of Wyoming contributing another $20 million in matching funds.
When work on the project can start depends on how quickly money is raised, officials said.
Ben Blalock, president of the UW Foundation, said the project has already received a $3 million gift from Marian Rochelle, who along with her late husband donated money to help build the Rochelle Athletics Center, which opened in 2001. The donation is matched by a like amount from the state for a total of $6 million raised so far, Blalock said.
Much of the project will benefit the UW football program.
There will be rooms for football training and team meetings and an expanded football locker room. Plans also call for a hall honoring the history and traditions of Cowboy football.
Football coach Craig Bohl said the project will help attract the type of student-athletes he's looking for to improve his program.
The current facilities aren't adequate to meet the training and academic needs of the players, Bohl said.
"You got to go for it now and then," he said. "...You got to make a bold move, and this is what a bold move is."
But student-athletes in other sports also will benefit in training and nutrition from the new facilities, officials said.
The project includes renovating the existing 48,000-square-foot Rochelle Athletics Center. The new addition would bring the total square footage to about 126,000 square feet.
UW athletics director Tom Burman said initial plans are for the new facility to be located near the north end zone of the football stadium. That means the current Veterans Plaza area between the stadium and the Rochelle Athletics Center would have to be moved to the south of the stadium, he said.
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