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Athletics: UL unveils master plan for athletic facilities 10/23/12

Athletics: UL unveils master plan for athletic facilities 10/23/12

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, October 23, 2012

Nothing has been finalized yet.

No architecture firm has even been chosen.

No costs estimates are in, no fundraising is anywhere near complete and no timetable for construction — let alone ground-breaking — has been established.

But the University of Louisiana at Lafayette does have a masterplan for athletic-facility improvements, the first phase of which — compiling a comprehensive list of the needs of every Ragin’ Cajuns sports program, after meeting with all relevant coaches and administrators — has been addressed with the aid of Kansas City, Mo.-based 360 Architecture.

According to information obtained from a university representative, that plan — among many projects — calls for multiple-phase Cajun Field expansion and the creation of an open-air, green-space quad behind the southern end zone of Cajun Field.

First-phase plans call for the addition of 1,200 club seats and 40 private boxes for Cajun Field, with other seating capacity gains coming in stages rather than all at once — but all subject to change depending largely on cost, fundraising success and construction schedules.

Those intentions — even though nothing is absolute yet — are being made public now in part because ESPN2 is in Lafayette tonight to air the Cajuns’ Sun Belt Conference home football game against Arkansas State, and university officials wanted to maximize the rare opportunity for national exposure.

UL athletic director Scott Farmer, however, declined to address any specifics of the plans, leaving many questions unanswered, including not only cost of planned stadium improvements and the entire multi-facility project but also eventual capacity at the current 31,000-seat field and even a ballpark estimate of when the new-look Cajun Field will be unveiled.

But many of the school’s athletic-related intentions — largely football-centric — are now known, even if many of them remain very much in flux.

Other planned changes include the tearing down of the current Cox Communications Athletic Center that houses athletic administration and football staff offices, and the construction of a new athletic administration facility on the west, press box-side face of Cajun Field that will allow for the creation of stadium luxury seats and boxes.

As part of that construction there also are plans to straighten Reinhardt Drive — a windy road that currently cuts around Cajun Field and past other UL athletic venues.

A centralized main ticket office at or near Cajun Field — and not at the Cajundome basketball arena, as it currently the case — also is under consideration.

Initial plans also call for the construction of a 71,000-square-foot facility, adjacent on a 90-degree angle to the existing Leon Moncla Practice Facility, that will house Cajun and visitor football lockerrooms, football staff offices, a video editing suite, 6,000 square feet of meeting space that will include a 130-to-150 person auditorium, an 18,800-square-foot weight room and nutrition center, a 10,000-square-foot athletic training center and a 5,700-square-foot equipment room.

That facility will mean the loss of half of one of UL’s two current football practice fields.

The UL basketball team’s current practice court inside the Moncla facility, meanwhile, is expected to become a 5,000-square-foot Olympic-sport weight room.

Practice courts for the men’s and women’s basketball teams eventually will be housed in a separate 37,000-square-foot building, the site of which — currently identified as the southwest corner of Reinhardt and Cajundome Boulevard — is subject to further discussion.

There also are plans — again, none finalized — for the creation of a student-athlete academic center at a to-be-determined location, and renovation of the UL baseball team’s M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field, the Earl K. Long Gym that currently houses the Cajun women’s basketball and volleyball teams, the school’s track and soccer facility, and its tennis courts.

The baseball stadium’s facelift — including 10 luxury suites, a 1,500-square-foot press box, renovated baseball coaching staff offices and locker rooms, and renovated batting cages and bullpens — had been previously planned, but was later deferred so the football improvements could begin first.

Now, there is no intention for the baseball facility to be renovated any time before UL hosts the Sun Belt Conference next May.

However, other plans do call for the eventual addition of a 500-seat outdoor sand volleyball complex, four indoor tennis courts, and new surfaces for the track and women’s soccer teams.