Over 160,000-square foot facility to be a transformational addition that will have impacts across the entire USF Athletics program
TAMPA, NOV. 9, 2017– University of South Florida Director of Athletics Mark Harlan today unveiled plans for a USF Football Center to be located on the USF campus adjacent to the Lee Roy Selmon Athletics Center.
“We are very excited about the plans for this truly transformational facility, which will provide a world-class training center and base of operations for our outstanding football program,” Harlan said. “The addition of more than 160,000-square feet of state-of-the-art space dedicated to student-athlete excellence will have a profound impact on our ability to recruit and prepare the best and brightest for competition at the highest level.”
The USF Football Center, which is estimated to cost $40 million and will be a donor-driven project, will expand upon the Morsani Football Practice Complex and feature an 83,000-square foot indoor practice facility housing a 100-yard turf field. The Center will also feature a more than 80,000-square foot, two-level building providing a state-of-the-art home for the entire football program.
“There is so much potential in this university, this athletic department and this football program that we have just begun to tap,” USF football head coach Charlie Strong said. “The USF Football Center will be a key step in drawing high-level student-athletes to USF and empowering our coaches and staff to develop those student-athletes, tap that potential and compete on an elite level.”
Among the highlights included in the initial plans for the USF Football Center provided by the global design firm HOK are:
• A stunning entry façade, lobby and multi-purpose space for recruiting
• Indoor practice facility with a 100-yard turf field
• More than 12,000-square foot football strength and conditioning center
• Nearly 10,000-square foot football locker room
• Players’ lounge and adjacent social patio
• Team auditorium with tiered seating
• Sports medicine and rehabilitation facility
• Nutrition center
• More than 12,000 square feet of team and position meeting spaces
• Coaches and staff offices
• Equipment room, video operations, laundry and other support operations
“Our athletics program and our football program, in particular, have never been stronger and we are committed to putting the resources in place to achieve success at the highest level,” Harlan said. “This will be a donor-driven project with a vision toward elevating our program and ensuring we remain nationally competitive. We are confident that our donors, alumni and fans share in our commitment and will support our vision for the future excellence of USF Athletics.”
The USF Football Center will provide a dramatic new front porch for USF Athletics and is expected to be a game-changing addition that will attract top-level student-athletes to USF. The addition of space and an indoor training capability to the already excellent USF Athletics campus will present exciting new possibilities for all USF sports, including the reallocation of space currently occupied by the football program in the Selmon Athletics Center, and is expected to have major impacts across the breadth of our program.