FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas is moving closer to reaching its fundraising goal for a football operations center.
The program announced Thursday afternoon it has earmarked $28.4 million for the project, an 80,000 square foot facility and two new practice fi elds.
The total includes a $10 million challenge grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation and another $18.4 million in donations, including money raised as part of the program’s new seat-licensing program for football season tickets (Razorback Seat Value Plan or RSVP). “We are grateful to the Reynolds Foundation for their generous gift and for using it to encourage others to step forward to help with this important facility,” Jeff Long, Arkansas athletic director, said in a statement released by the program. “While we have met theReynolds Foundation challenge and our initial goal to fund the football center, we still have work left to do in raising the funds needed to complete the entire complex including the practice facility. I am confident that as we enter the public phase of our fundraising eff orts, members of the Razorback nation will help us raise the remaining private support needed to fund the entire project.”
The total cost, which also includes two practice fields set to be built over an existing parking area south of the indoor practice facility, is $35 million. Arkansas said naming rights for the facility, at various levels of support, also remain available.
The program announced its plans for the facility and the $10 million challenge grant from the Reynolds Foundation in October 2010. Preliminary work on the facility already is underway. Long has previously said an oft cial groundbreaking ceremony could beheld later this fall.
“I am grateful to Fred W. Smith and the Reynolds Foundation trustees for their commitment to our program,” Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said. Petrino has been a proponent of building a facility in his four-year tenure with the Razorbacks. The coach, who led Arkansas to a 10-3 record and its first appearance in a Bowl Championship Series game in 2010, believes the facility is important to the program’s growth.
“There is a reason for everything we do here and this facility will allow us to be very functional and efficient,” Petrino said in an athletic department statement. “It will also motivate future student athletes because they will know they can have a great career here. I am confident Razorback fans everywhere will do their part to provide the support we need to complete the project and help ensure the program’s future success.”
Sports, Pages 8 on 08/22/2011