Regents approve building soccer stadium

June 19, 2009
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ANN ARBOR—Work will begin immediately on the design of a new University of Michigan soccer stadium, following Board of Regents approval of the project during today?s meeting in Dearborn.

The stadium will be built on the site of the current competition field, one of three soccer fields added in 2008. The fields are located west of the tennis complex on South State Street in Ann Arbor.

The project will add grandstand seating for 2,200, two team locker rooms, restrooms and concessions for spectators and a press area. The $6 million project will be funded by Intercollegiate Athletics resources and gifts.

Bill Martin, director of intercollegiate athletics, said the goal is to create a European-style stadium with seating on both sides of the field. Some of those seats could be covered depending on costs, he said. The current field has only temporary bleachers.

He said the project is a ?huge statement on the commitment of the university to the soccer programs.?

The first step will be the design of the facility, which will be done by the Michigan architectural firm Jickling Lyman Powell Associates Inc. Schematic drawings will be presented at a future regents meeting for approval.

?What was once a distant dream is now close to becoming a reality,? said U-M men?s soccer coach Steve Burns.