Few schools have turned around the fortune of their football program quite like Memphis has the past few years and it appears the reward for all that hard work is some significant upgrades to the Tigers’ facilities to keep them even more competitive in the college football landscape.
To that end, Memphis Business Journal reports that the university Board of Trustees approved a $10 million debt package on Thursday that will just about cover all the costs associated with building a brand new football indoor practice facility. As you have to come to expect with just about any such facility, the new digs will include an enclosed and climate-controlled practice field along with renovations to existing spaces that will bring about a new football operations office.
The plans for the new indoor building have been floating around for some time but it seems most of the recent focus in the athletic department was centered around a new basketball facility. With that project nearly completed and the football team doing well under head coach Mike Norvell, it seems that the attention is being shifted to the gridiron and the debt package will be the first steps in financing the start of construction.
The Journal also notes that the debt being taken on is being backed somewhat by the Tigers’ AAC conference revenue, while the remaining $600,000 or so the project needs will come from donors. Given that the team is one of the favorites to win the league in 2017, it might just be safe to say that the thinking around Memphis is if you build it, they (donors) will come.