San Jose State University and its Division of Intercollegiate Athletics will host a groundbreaking ceremony for the future construction of a new Spartan Athletics Center on the east side of CEFCU Stadium, Home of the Spartans. The ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday morning, June 5 at 11:00 a.m., inside CEFCU Stadium.Conceived in 2016 as a centerpiece in the development of the university's 62 acres of land at the South Campus, the Spartan Athletics Center will be a multi-story structure centralizing all of Spartan Football's needs into one state-of-the-art building. The new facility will enhance all facets of football and soccer operations and provide a first-class environment for our student-athletes to succeed in the classroom, in competition, and in life."The Spartan Athletics Center will provide our football team, athletics department and the entire university state-of-the-art spaces to compete and learn. This critical project will provide much needed services for our football program and will be utilized by other sport teams and campus divisions. The center will provide enhanced game-day experiences for our fans," said, San Jose State's director of athletics."This project is a crucial footprint to the overall renovation and enhancement of facilities on South Campus. Although our football program will be the main tenants, building multi-use facilities is always our objective."The new operations center will include locker rooms, an auditorium, offices, spectator seating on the 50-yard line and a Hall of Champions event space. The total project would be a rebuild on the stadium's east side and also provide support to the Spartans' men's and women's soccer programs.Currently, the project budget is listed at $40-million. To date, $24.7 million has been raised for the Spartan Athletics Center.The work slated to take place during the summer includes removing bleacher sections along the stadium's east side and landscape in order to set the foundation for building. During this time, San Jose State will initiate a formal bidding process to determine both construction and architecture firms.After the 2019 football season, the next phase of work will include moving the hill and relocating the scoreboard including lighting currently located along the east side - all required preparation for the physical construction of the center.When the Spartan Athletics Center is completed, the football program would move out of the Simpkins Stadium Center, opened in 1993 on the 7Street side of CEFCU Stadium, to the opposite side of the stadium."The Spartan Athletics Center will be a game-changer for San Jose State University. We are building a winning program here and our new home will provide our players, coaches, and staff the opportunities to succeed on the field, academically, and through our Beyond Football program," said San Jose State football head coach"It will show future Spartans that we have a vision and a plan for a winning football program that goes to bowl games and competes for conference championships." The groundbreaking ceremony is open to the public . Parking will be available in the Park & Ride Lot, located across the street from the 7Street side of CEFCU Stadium.To learn how you can support Spartan football, please visit sjsufootball.com or contact Josh Thiel , deputy athletics director for athletics advancement, at 408-924-1697 or joshua.thiel@sjsu.edu.###