The University of Minnesota will break ground this morning on a $13 million outdoor track and field facility.

The stadium will be in the northeast corner of the Athletes Village, just east of Siebert Field and Jane Sage Cowles Stadium.

Several athletes, coaches and dignitaries will be on hand for the celebration, which will culminate in the construction of a venue that University officials say will not only provide Gophers track teams to host events for the first time in 15 years, but will be of the level necessary to host Big Ten and NCAA competitions and even national meets.

“This facility will become synonymous with track and field excellence in the Midwest,” the University says in a statement. It will not only provide a first-class experience for the young men and women who compete for Minnesota, it will provide Minnesota high schools with a venue for major meets and USA Track and Field with a Minnesota option for placing its marquee events.”

Features of the facility will include:

  • A nine-lane track with a state-of-the-art surface with three chutes that provide flexibility to hose major competition at all levels
  • Full field event hosting capabilities
  • A configuration that will provide opportunities to run sprints on both the front and backstretches, as well as opportunities to change directions for long jump, triple jump, pole vault and other events to work with prevailing winds on competition days
  • Warm-up and cool down areas under the grandstands
  • Permanent and event-based seating that will create the capacity necessary for hosting events of any size

Spokesman Jake Ricker says the athletics department is currently fundraising to cover the cost of the facility. There is not a naming-rights arrangement in place now, though he says the University is open to such a deal. The school announced in June that 3M had bought naming rights to the hockey arena, which is now known as 3M Arena at Mariucci. Terms of the deal were reportedly 14-years and $11.2 million.

Local hockey icon Lou Nanne told the Star Tribune at the time that he hoped such arrangements would be forthcoming on other athletic venues, including Williams Arena.

“We are open to conversations with private donors or potential corporate partners that are interested in making a naming-level contribution to the project,” Ricker says.