Rutgers is getting ready for its second football season in the Big Ten, and it is focused on improving to be able to compete in what some are touting as the best division in college football. But off the field, Rutgers is also attempting to move forward with improving its athletics facilities to be more on par with other Big Ten athletic programs for years to come. On Thursday the university unveiled some of the lofty plans for a full athletics department upgrade after receiving approval from the board.
Some of the plans include some nice upgrades for the Rutgers football program, including a new football-only facility. The Hale Center would be renovated to be specialized specifically for the football team, rather than housing multiple teams in the same building. New facilities will be added to High Point Solutions Stadium to meet the needs of other programs, which turns out to be a win for everybody at Rutgers.
The football stadium would also receive an upgrade in the press box to better accommodate a larger media presence that some Big Ten programs (Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State) will routinely bring to New Jersey than the program would host on a regular basis as a member of the Big East. And let’s face it, if you make the media happy, they may be less likely to throw criticism at your university’s leadership (maybe, but adding some nice concessions is always nice too). For the fans, upgraded restrooms and an elevator tower on the east side of the stadium are planned as well. Additional practice fields for the team outside the stadium are also planned, which can also be used for lacrosse. Lacrosse is pretty big for the Big Ten right now, as the conference just expanded to include Johns Hopkins’ women’s lacrosse team as an affiliate member a year after inviting the men’s team.
Rutgers knew joining the Big Ten would require upgrading its athletic facilities, but this is not something that happens over night. The increased revenue that will come to Rutgers through its Big Ten membership will help, but Rutgers will not receive a full conference revenue share until the 2020-2021 season. For the sake of comparison, Nebraska is getting closer to their full revenue benefits in 2017-2018 after joining the Big Ten in 2011. Rutgers will still receive a portion of the Big Ten pie in the meantime, but for now the donors will have to come through to help fund these projects.