The Arms Race for University Athletics Facilities

Small Schools with Large Athletics Facilities Projects in 2024

Smaller colleges and universities are unveiling major 2024 athletic facility upgrades. These institutions are betting that large-scale facility upgrades to on-campus facilities will better position student-athletes for success, and will help these schools to stand out from regional competitive schools for student applications.

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E&I Article, June 2024

Small Schools are Competing, in Athletics and for Students, with Facility Upgrades

Around the U.S., university athletics departments are announcing major facility upgrades, infrastructure projects, and physical improvements to better position athletes and schools themselves for success. School presidents, administrators, and generous philanthropists are making it a team effort to turn goals into reality. Along with infrastructure projects themselves, schools are using dynamic branding, LED lighting, new turfs and flooring options to bring brand facelifts to stand out in the social media age. Facility improvements are not just about attracting athletes, but about keeping student admissions rates from falling off. 

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Contact your E&I rep. here with questions.

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SUNY Morrisville turns a field upgrade into a full athletics brand facelift - A BLACK football field?

The Director of Athletics was looking to stand out within a 64 institution state-funded college system. When some earmarked funds opened up to upgrade athletic facilities, the AD chose to resurface the field used for football, soccer, lacrosse, and field hockey to new turf. He also chose black coloring. What started as a gimmick took off, with the school receiving national attention, from media and recruits on social media. The turf itself was launched in Fall 2023 season, but brand updates from this branding decision are being rolled out to other parts of campus through 2024.

HBCU Delaware State Set to Begin Athletic Facilities Transformation

Delaware State administration, alum, and coaches had consensus that athletic facilities were overdue for upgrades. Delaware State alum Steven R. Ewing recently donated $1 million dollars to the school to transform the athletics department, and is working with the athletics department to solicit more alumni to donate. Projects underway include improved locker rooms for football, women's lacrosse, and women's soccer. The school is also updating a football meeting space and lounge, installing golf simulators, and buying land for women's softball. The Athletics Transformation Committee has several future-thinking projects in mind, and has raised $10 million to date for future projects.

Division III Athletics Facility Grows through Donor Funding - St. Lawrence U.

The St. Lawrence University Saints have just released a 2024 expansion plan through gifts and pledges. The athletic center expansion of the strength and conditioning center for all student-athletes. The initiative will also include new locker rooms and team facilities for field hockey and softball teams, plus men's and women's lacrosse and rowing teams. 2024 phases include a dedicated strategy room for coaches, a player's lounge, and a video/media room. St. Lawrence University is a small private liberal arts college with 2,100 undergraduates in Canton, NY.

Univ. of West Florida upgrades facilities, has highest student application year ever

Construction crews at the University of West Florida (DII) have been working feverishly to upgrade the campus' athletic facilities. More bleacher space, remodeled buildings, new video boards, and flooring are some of the upgrades. Besides just indoor gym sports, additional seating in its field house will allow the university to host more events like pep rallies and commencements. The school is also adding a 10,000 square feet sports medicine center. To go along with athletic facilities expansion, the university had over 10,000 applications for the first time ever in 2023. The school actually had to cut them off, as it is at capacity at 15,000 students. 

Hofstra University unveils athletic facility upgrades, dynamic branding, for 2024

The Hofstra University Department of Athletics is working on three major facility upgrades to on-campus facilities. It's physical education building is undergoing dynamic branding updates and a bolder color scheme, plus LED lighting. Hofstra is also updating the men's and women's soccer stadium with a new mega electric board, plus installing new synthetic turf. The university's sports performance center added rubber flooring, a new sound system, plus enhanced weight lifting machines. LED video screens will now be a signature of the facility, with state-of-the-art full-color lettering and unique branding. Hoftstra sees updates as a step toward success.

Univ. of Findlay, an NAIA school in Ohio, finishing multi-sport practice facility 

The University of Findlay (Ohio) is building an 83,000 square foot turf and practice space for use by many of the 22 NCAA-sponsored Oiler sports teams. It will also be used for intramurals and community organizations. A reconstruction of Dick Strahm Champions Field is a step to maintain university status as an attractive option for high-level student-athletes. The university has secured 60% of funding needed, provided mostly by the alumni base and football supporters. A private liberal arts college, the University of Findlay has approximate enrollment of 3,400 undergraduates.

E&I Cooperative has Athletics Contracts You can Access

You received this newsletter because E&I has many contracts that your procurement department has special pricing for. Click below to learn more about a few of them. E&I is your partner in collegiate and K-12 procurement needs. Through our contract portfolio, we help our member institutions make quick and informed purchase decisions.

Part of practice football field on college campus
E&I Contract Details

FieldTurf - A Tarkett Sports Company

Your E&I FieldTurf contract offers synthetic turf, running tracks, indoor flooring, tennis courts, and sports surfacing. This contract offers a simple buying process with best market pricing, full service, and exclusive product and service.

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E&I Contract Details

CORE Health & Fitness

E&I's Core Health & Fitness contract provides access to highly rated brands in fitness like StairMaster, Nautilus, Schwinn, Star Trac, and Throwdown. E&I members receive full service, including installation, maintenance, and fitness programming.

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E&I Contract Details

Affinaquest

Affinaquest is the leading data management and analytics company in institutional advancement and collegiate athletics. The E&I contract enables members to prioritize engagement, personalize interaction, and maximize donations, ticket purchases, and marketing.

Why Members Work With E&I?

6,000+

U.S. member institutions, universities, and K-12

200+

Member solicited buying
contracts you can access

$3B+

Yearly spend of E&I members
means large savings for you

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An E&I Cooperative Case Study
Saint Louis University Saves Big on Cardio Equipment with Core Health & Fitness

The campus’s recreation facility serves approximately 13,000 students who have access to over 19,000 square feet of fitness space, including an indoor track and gymnasium. SLU was looking to replace a line of cardio equipment in its recreation facility that had reached the end of its lifecycle and was outside the scope of its warranty. When replacing fitness equipment in the past, SLU’s Campus Recreation &Wellness team was required to work with the University’s Business & Finance team to go through the time-consuming and costly competitive bid process. Saint Louis University was aware of Core Health & Fitness and knew about its quality products. So finding that E&I had a more competitive bid and contract with Core, SLU moved forward with the process much quicker than anticipated. SLU saved over 8% from using E&I and received all purchases before the end of the fiscal year. 

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