Image Credit: UAA

So you know all that money the Florida Gators have recently thrown at improving athletic facilities and centers across the University of Florida campus? The Gators will be doubling that figure.

In a Friday announcement, Florida’s University Athletic Association shared a $100 million proposal that will bring forth significant changes for Gators athletics, including the first stand-alone football complex in program history. It also includes massive improvements to the Florida baseball and softball stadiums, which have been in the works for quite some time.

“Obviously, it’s a very ambitious project and we’re going to depend on our fundraising efforts to help us with it,” athletic director Jeremy Foley said. “Really, it’s a commitment to those three programs, those three coaches. The study also includes opportunities to enhance other facilities that are very important to us, but football, baseball and softball are what we’ve put as our highest priority right now.”

This all comes on the heels of the UAA spending approximately $107 million to build an indoor practice facility for football, completely renovate the Stephen C. O’Connell Center, build the Otis Hawkins Center academic facility and update many of the athletic dorms.

All pictures below are conceptual renderings from the University Athletic Association. The project has not been finalized and neither a design team nor contractor has been hired.

Standalone football facility

* To be built upon the current “throw” area for men’s and women’s track & field

* Current training facility will remain in place for all sports besides football

– Locker room and players’ lounge

– New football offices, including offices for the coaches

– Meeting rooms, recruiting rooms, general work space

– Nutrition station

– Strength and conditioning

– Hydrotherapy and training

– 100,000 square feet in size

This is a massive change for the Gators football program, which to this point have always had its entire football operation — including coaching offices — housed inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The former football offices will now be used for athletic administrators, giving them a home base for the first time. “It will be everything that we need, that [head football coach Jim McElwain] has envisioned,” Foley said in a media briefing, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Foley, who will move into an emeritus AD role after retiring, will be hot on the fundraising trail with new adviser and consultant Steve Spurrier as the pair looks to rustle up the massive amounts of money needed to complete the project.

McKethan Stadium renovation

– Shade structuring

– Five rows of premium seating behind home plate

– New club seating (approximately 400 seats)

– Second level concourse

– Updated dugouts

– New locker rooms

– Improved player amenities, including meeting rooms and lounges

– Expanded press box





Pressly Softball Stadium renovation

– “Some shade structure”

– Chair back seating behind home plate (replacing bleachers)

– 750-1,000 more bleacher seats down each foul line

– Updated concessions and restrooms

– New locker rooms

– Improved player and coach amenities, including meeting rooms and offices

– Expanded press box

Additional improvements

– New Gator Dining facility (located adjacent to new football complex)

– Track & field venue

– Soccer venue

– Lacrosse venue

– Athletic dorms

– Maintenance facility