The Track

[vu72]

I'll stick my neck out and ask the question:  What is the status of the track and is there a timetable for its installation?

Many have expressed their feelings on this Board about the need for completion of this part of FITT but it has somehow fallen by the wayside as it relates to public awareness.

Could there be a spot on the Valpo athletic website which give an update/asks for specific contributions?  Out of site/out of mind kind of a thing.

We all understand that as soon as the money comes in it will be built, but, what does that really mean?  Are we $2 million away or $200,000, or what?  Thanks for the update!! Perhaps this site could help!!

[okinawatyphoon]

I too am wondering about the status of the track. it is essential and relatively inexpensive compared to other issues.

[SadersofthelostArc]

VU72....we shouldn't be anywhere close to $2 million away.  A track is going to cost us somewhere between 100k-500k (and 500k is on the very high end)...see http://www.unitedsportsystems.com/running_tracks.html for an example of track pricing...

It seems like this is a project that should have been done a long time ago...maybe ml will chime in?

[sectionee]

https://www.valpo.edu/givetovu/form/index.php

[ml]

The last time the track project was priced the estimate was $1.8 million.  The track surface is only part of the cost.  The asphalt base needs to be built, there is a significant amount of site work (eg: removing the old tennis courts) and drainage needed plus landscaping.  Our plan also includes jump areas and the equipment needed for staging track meets.  We still need to raise the majority of those funds.

[valporun]

Could we get an itemized look at the cost of each portion of the track project, from the removing of the tennis courts to landscaping to the jump areas, and equipment needed? I get a valid feeling that a lot of people would like to know what each part of the track project costs individually, instead of the large $1.8 million chunk needed to get things rolling.

[SadersofthelostArc]

Absolutely, valporun...I'd be really curious to see that info.

[VULB#62]

Related to the track and with an eye to the Brown Field stadium I have a thought.  After seeing the Master Plan diagrams, I came up with another    idea. The current turf football/soccer field desperately needs new, expanded home grandstands and a D-IAA level press box.  From the Master Plan map and a Google  Maps arial view, there appears to be a lot of space now emerging north of the visitor's bleachers with the removal of LeBien and Miller.  With the added acreage where Miller and LeBien Hall were on the conceptual drawings, why not consider:

(1) Constructing an expanded home grandstand and D-IAA level press box closer to the playing surface (into where the space reserved for the track currently is).

(2) Similarly, moving the existing visitor stands closer to the field on the north side -- again taking the space reserved currently for the track, thus creating a very cozy game time environment and a more intimate fan and player football and soccer experience, while exposing more land for other athletic field development (i.e., the track).  The fans would be right on top of the action and the confines would add to a home field advantage for any VU team playing on the surface.  Ultimately in the Master Plan, soccer is scheduled to have it's own stadium next to the proposed field house, so eventually Brown Field would be a Football-only facility -- which would be pretty cool.

(3) Instead of putting the track around Brown Field, build the track outside the stadium in the newly reclaimed area just north of Brown Field (including the additional area gained by moving the stands), with it's own playing surface that would allow for the throwing events to be inside the oval. That land is in the midst of demolition/excavation anyway and provides a blank canvas for the design and construction of that facility unencumbered by existing structures.

Beside capacity, aesthetic and "home-field advantage" improvements, I see additional advantages:
>  The track becomes a dedicated facility that reflects Valpo's increased commitment to T&F
>  The view from Lincoln Way would not stretch out over empty playing fields to the Brown Field Stadium (as mentioned by President Heckler), it would showcase two collegiate level athletic facilities
>  Possibly a bit more space for ARC expansion (or at least by expanding the grandstand space forward to the field you would not reduce the available space for an ARC addition),
>  Retention of needed parking spaces outside the west end zone that the track installation would otherwise eliminate (and also there would be no need to excavate)
>  Retention of the space necessary for the proposed Athletes Walk between the ARC/Brown Field and the SB/Tennis complex. 

I know this idea creates two specialized spaces instead of one multi-use facility, but the land is there, so why crowd things in?