Athletic Department Unveils New Renderings, Groundbreaking Date

Lincoln - The Nebraska Athletic Department released two new artist renderings of the indoor fieldhouse and the Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex along with a date for groundbreaking on the construction of the North Stadium Project on Tuesday.

Nebraska will hold a groundbreaking ceremony on Aug. 10 at 11 a.m. to kickoff the building phase of the project.

The new indoor fieldhouse is scheduled to be completed for the start of football’s winter conditioning program in February of 2005.

Associate Athletic Director Boyd Epley said the new renderings and the groundbreaking date are the newest parts of the growing excitement with the project.

"Since this project is a design/build format, many things are changing as new ideas come forward," Epley said. "We have design meetings on Mondays and construction meetings on Tuesdays. The new renderings show how the outside will look but the real excitement is inside. We’ll share some renderings of the inside in mid-August."

The Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2006. The complex will include five levels with a first floor performance level for student-athletes that will feature a weight room, water therapy and athletic medicine areas. It will also include the football locker room, and offices for strength, athletic medicine and equipment personnel.

The second level of the complex will house the football offices, along with a new concourse for fans on game day that will include additional restrooms and concession areas. Level three will be the home of NU’s athletic administrative offices, while the fourth level will handle all of department’s mechanical needs and hold the offices for athletic computing services. The fifth level, which overlooks the football field, will be a multipurpose level with conference rooms, game-day experience rooms and additional office space.

The overall project will add 6,460 new seats to Memorial Stadium, pushing capacity past 80,000. Phase I of the project, which includes the Memorial Stadium expansion and the Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex will be $40 million. Phase II, which includes the indoor workout area, will be an additional $10 million. So far, $15 million has been raised privately and the rest of the project has been financed through the sale of bonds.

To view the new images of the indoor fieldhouse and Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex or to see progress of the construction live, please visit Huskers.com.