Two new Omaha Athletics facilities approved by Board of Regents

On Friday, the University of Nebraska Board of Regents unanimously approved a new training facility for University of Nebraska at Omaha Athletics.

The Omaha Athletics Training Facility, privately funded and estimated to cost $55 million, will allow the UNO athletic department to grow into a premiere metro university athletic department, Director of Athletics Adrian Dowell said. It was approved along with a new, $12.5 million baseball and softball clubhouse in Friday’s vote.

Dowell explained the two projects.

“One is a training facility which is a 75,000-square-foot facility, which will be located right next to and connected to Baxter Arena,” Dowell said. “The second is a 19,000-square-foot clubhouse facility, which will be located at Maverick Park, right on the edge of Connie Claussen Field.”

The new volleyball, basketball and volleyball practice facility will replace the Sapp Fieldhouse, a 1949 facility that hosts practices for those programs currently. The fieldhouse has served the athletic department well but is aging, a project description on the board agenda said.

Baxter Arena will still host the school’s hockey, basketball and volleyball competitions.

Many families and organizations donated to make the project possible, Dowell said.

“We have the privilege to stand on the shoulders of giants, like the Hawks family, like the Scott families, like the Sokol family,” Dowell said, “and many others and generations of Maverick student athletes to build something truly great and fitting for a leading Division I institution.”

In March, the Mavericks won the Summit League Conference title in men’s basketball for the first time in program history. That provided the opportunity for the program’s first Division I NCAA men’s basketball tournament appearance, where they fell to No. 2 seed St. John’s in the first round.

The softball program earned its third straight conference title and NCAA Tournament appearance in May.

Since 2021, the athletic department has competed in an NCAA postseason tournament eight times, according to a September press release.

UNO joined Division I and the Summit League starting in the 2012-13 athletic year.

Construction of the Omaha Athletics Training Facility is scheduled to start in October, with a projected finish date of December 2028.