UAB announced Wednesday the Alabama Power Foundation has committed $500,000 to the proposed football operations building.

The UAB Athletic Foundation's campaign's goal is to raise $15 million. The building is expected to house film rooms, training facilities, locker rooms, a weight room and more.

"We already have excitement in and around the program and are working hard toward 2017," UAB football coach Bill Clark said in a released statement. "Watching shovels hit the dirt and steel come out of the ground will boost the energy even more -- in our recruiting, on the practice field, in the meeting room and in the weight room. Our return is very real, and this facility is a tangible symbol that we are coming back to be stronger than ever."

UAB athletic director Mark Inram said the plan is to have the building complete by time the Blazers hit the field for the 2017 season.

"We have a lot of work to do, and additional steps toward full approval of the project remain," Ingram stated in the release. "But we are approaching this project aggressively, and the unprecedented fan and financial support we have seen of late continues to grow. Respected business and community leaders like Alabama Power and Protective Life seeing the value in this project sends a clear message to other potential donors, and we are grateful for their vote of confidence."

UAB has been working on the building design and soliciting private donations. Once those two factors meet board approval, the construction bid will start.

"We join with the many organizations getting behind this project because it has broad implications in expanding UAB's growing economic and cultural contributions to our region," Myla Calhoun, Alabama Power's vice president for Charitable Giving, said in the statement. "UAB has been central to Birmingham's resurgence, and UAB Athletics is seizing an opportunity to build excellence across its programs that will be felt in very positive ways across our city."