Georgia Indoor Practice Facility Plans Announced

The trend of building new indoor facilities has really caught wind as of late, and now the last team in the SEC to build one has finally caught up.

Carl Dukes of CBS Atlanta believes Georgia’s pending indoor facility will be the best in the conference.

Georgia’s biggest challenge in beginning the building process is their lack of a solid location. With a large yet crowded campus, it has been a struggle to determine where to place this monstrous facility. The projected location is the area just beyond the existing outdoor practice fields, off Lumpkin Street, leading up to Stegman Coliseum. This location would be the most ideal because it is right next to the current existing facilities and the Butts-Mehre building. However, because the indoor practice facility would be roughly 80 yards wide, 140 yards long and 65 feet high, they would have to tear down a current University building.

As for expenses, this is going to be a large investment for UGA. The price is an estimated $30 million. With the price tag of $30 million, Georgia’s indoor facility would be double the reported price of the University of Florida’s future indoor facility, which is currently under construction. The facility would be paid for with Athletic Association funds and private donors.

The biggest question is, will the investment be worth it?

The facility is basically a very expensive bragging right. Even Coach Spurrier of South Carolina noted that they use theirs only a few times a year, but “you have to have one because everyone has one.”

However, defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt noted that there are days when the new facility is definitely needed. Georgia currently has a multi purpose indoor facility the Dawgs utilize sometimes, but it is very small to be of any real use.

“It’s basically a banquet hall with turf,” Pruitt said.

Having an indoor facility is also very important for recruiting. When all the teams in the conference have one, you have to invest and Georgia wants to make sure they do it right.

They hope to make the facility multifaceted and for baseball, track, and other sports to be able to use it as well. While none of the plans for the indoor facility have been made public yet, an indoor track must be a given.

UGA really wants this investment to be worth it and to get it right the first time. There has been no timeline set for when building begins, but they hope to make it a swift process. With a monstrous price tag of $30 million, let’s hope they get it right the first time and it’s a lot more than a field with a roof.

*Photo credit to Richard Hamm, Athens Banner-Herald Online

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