COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Missouri Department of Intercollegiate Athletics has received its ninth, seven-figure gift toward the new south end zone facility at Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field which is scheduled to open ahead of the 2019 football season. An anonymous donor made a $2 million gift toward the project, which is currently being designed by the Kansas City-based architecture firm Populous, last Friday.
“With the Board of Curators approving Populous as the facility’s architect and the continued generosity of our donors, there continues to be tremendous momentum for this facility which is so important to the long-term future of Mizzou Athletics, and in particular our football program” said Mizzou Director of Athletics Jim Sterk. “We are so grateful for the donors who continue to come forward with transformational gifts to help make this a reality for our student-athletes, staff and fans.”
This gift marks the project’s ninth, seven-figure gift in the past eight months, which is a fiscal year record for Mizzou Athletics (the previous high was six such gifts). To date, more than $46 million has been secured in private donations for the new facility.
“We’re really excited to continue the momentum from our donors, and coming on the heels of the Board’s action last week, this is great news,” said Mizzou Head Football Coach Barry Odom. “We are very grateful to the Board of Curators for their support of this project, and I’m looking forward to working with the Populous team as we design a facility that will be one of the best in the country.”
Populous was approved last Thursday by the University of Missouri Board of Curators as the architect for the $96.7 million project, which is scheduled to be completed by 2019. Recognized as one of the nation’s premier sports architect firms, Kansas City-based Populous has completed major football projects since 2012 for Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Kansas State and Colorado while designing the three newest on-campus FBS stadiums in Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium, Baylor’s McLane Stadium and Colorado State’s Sonny Lubick Field, which debuts in 2017.
The Mizzou project will include a four-story football team facility in the south end zone at Memorial Stadium/Farout Field as well as new premium seating opportunities for Tiger football fans.
In addition to providing a new state-of-the-art home for Mizzou Football and creating new revenue streams for Mizzou Athletics through premium seating opportunities, the new facility will also have an impact on the Central Missouri economy, as a recent study conducted by Plano, Texas-based Convention, Sports and Leisure projects a $700 million regional impact from the project along with 1,200 new jobs.
— Mizzou Athletics —