An ambitious $25 million plan could overhaul the sporting and athletic facilities at the University of Maryland. It is expected that 20 varsity team and over 500 students will benefit from the work, if it goes ahead as planned.

The Full Details

The project has been given the title of “Building Champions: The Maryland Athletics Facilities Campaign”. It is hoped that this will allow students at the university to compete more successfully against rivals from the country’s most renowned universities.

Funds for the work will be raised through private donations. Damon Evans is the Maryland athletic director. He pointed out in a statement that they are “officially launching a fundraising campaign” to start off the proposed project.

Cole Field House Initiative

Cole Field House will have a cutting-edge research center if this work goes ahead. Neuroscience, orthopedics, imaging technology, bioengineering, and kinesiology are among the areas that will be dealt with by the experts here.

The research will be carried out in over 40,000 square feet of space. It will also be home to the

Terrapin Performance Center that will help the football team to fulfill its potential. Could it help students here to become future stars and rank among BetAmerica.com NFL best bets?

As well as a regulation-size practice field indoors, there are plans to create facilities for strength and conditioning, work.  Hydrotherapy facilities and advanced physical assessment and diagnostic technology would complete the center here.

Next to Cole Field House would be a new soccer stadium. It is planned for 8,800 spectators and would include new video and audio systems too. State of the art LED lighting will also add to the atmosphere here once it is up and running.

Other Plans

One of the other major elements of this proposed project is the performance center next to the XFINITY Center. This would be aimed at the males and female basketball players on the campus who hope to reach the NBA or WNBA league.

It has been designed to run over two floors. They would contain the likes of a fitness center, locker rooms, coaches area, and practice courts, as well as an area for visitors.

Elsewhere, the Field Hockey & Lacross Complex has a $4 million re-development plan in place for it. This will provide a new, 12,000-square-foot team house, with brand-new locker rooms together with top-class rehabilitative and recovery equipment in the sports medicine area.

Another part of the plan involves work on the Stanley Bobb Baseball Player Development Center. An 8,500-square-foot area will be designated for indoor hitting and pitching purposes. In addition, it will feature enhanced technology for analytics as well as climate control to allow all-year-round use. $2 million will also be spent on a Softball Development Center with similar facilities.

Golf players will benefit from the $1.5 million to be spent on the Golf Player Development Center. There will be 6 heated hitting bays, swing analysis technology, and putting labs, allowing players to work on different aspects of their game at any time of year.

Track and field athletes will be able to use a stadium that will cost $9 million and include 1,500 seats for spectators. An eight-lane 400-meter competition track will be added, as well as features such as a grass infield, several throw areas, and a full hammer cage.

With the football team moving to Cole Field House, the property at Gossett Hall will be freed up for weight and training use. There will be also be enhanced medicine room here including hydrotherapy facilities. Finally, it will offer private office space for coaches and training staff as well as locker rooms.

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More details have been published of the plans to re-develop Maryland’s main horse racing venues. These were revealed when the bill was introduced to the state’s law-makers. It is sponsored by Senator Guy Guzzone, who is the chairman of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee.

What Does the Proposal Cover?

The idea is to authorize the Maryland Stadium Authority to finance rebuilding plans by floating bonds. These would be 30-year bonds aimed at raising $350 million in funds. Out of that total, $180 million would be set aside to improve Pimlico Race course.

This racetrack would get a new grandstand and a spring meeting that includes the Preakness Stakes. 2019 was the 144^th time that this race has been run. You can check Twinspires.com to see the Preakness winners, which include War of Will, Justify. And Cloud Computing.

$155 million would be used for the improvements that are needed at Laurel Park. These would include the building of a new grandstand, together with stables and housing for employees. This development work would convert it into a year-round training center for thoroughbred racehorses in Maryland.

A further $2.4 million per year would be destined to the Park Heights Renaissance. This money is to be used to improve the neighborhood around Pimlico. In addition, the Stronach Group who own Maryland Jockey Club would donate their land at Pimlico to the City of Baltimore and would get it leased back to them for the spring racing season each year.

The Bowie Training Center would be closed under this proposal. The land would be passed to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. It would then be used for recreational purposes, with Bowie State University getting use of part of it.

The Maryland Racing Commission would also be required to set up an Equine Health, Safety and Welfare Advisory Committee. This group would have the remit to investigate all of the welfare issues that are involved in horse racing and training.

What Happens Next?

This proposal is similar to the agreement that was reached among all of the interested parties in October last year. However, there are some changes that have been made in the mean-time. The main alteration is that it would be lottery funds rather than the state’s casino fund that contributed $17 million each year.

It has also been reported that House of Delegates Speaker Adrienne A. Jones is going to introduce a similar bill this week. It isn’t yet known what the differences between the two bills will be. Earlier reports had suggested that Laurel Park would be redeveloped first of all, with the work at Pimlico to be completed by 2024.

Baltimore Mayor Jack Young has issued a statement through his office on this subject. It said that he joined with the other parties working on this agreement to “praise Maryland’s legislative leaders” and that the crucial issue here is that this work will help Pimlico to maintain the right to run the Preakness Stakes in the future.

The statement also pointed out that the plan “enhances year-round sustainable racing at Laurel Park”. It went on to mention the fact that modern facilities and community redevelopment efforts will play their part in improving the racecourse and its surrounding area.

The press released mentions that the racing industry in Maryland currently “produces in excess of $1 billion to the economy”. It also provides tens of thousands of jobs in the state and is a vital component in the business plans for many local businesses.

Young’s press release ended by calling this a “once-in-a lifetime opportunity” to keep the Preakness race in Baltimore City and make Maryland the country’s most important center for thoroughbred racing. He urged the General Assembly to give their support to the proposed plan” when the time comes to vote on it.

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