CU Buffs are eyeing major improvements to athletic facilities

The University of Colorado has already undertaken an enormous project in the construction of an indoor practice facility and the new Champion’s Center, and the future will continue to bring significant improvements to other Buffs athletics facilities.

The Coors Events Center, home to CU’s basketball teams, has seen the most recent upgrade with the installation of a massive new scoreboard.

“That was part of our partnership with Learfield. When we extended with them, it allowed us to put that scoreboard in. It’s really going to add a lot to that facility,” athletic director Rick George said.

Coors Events Center should also see improvements to a new sound system installed last year, as well as a possible new name.

“We changed the sound system in the Coors Events Center a year ago and we did some tweaking on it so this year it should be great, it wasn’t great last year,” George said.

The complaints most commonly heard by the athletic department are about the football facilities, specifically Folsom Field.

“They do want a sound system in Folsom – I hear that quite a bit,” George said. “That’s one of the priorities, but it’s a couple million-dollar project that we don’t have right now, so we’re looking at all that. We’re starting to put together a facilities plan, because if you look at our stadium, some of the steel is eroding and we need to fix [that].”

Even antiquated Balch Fieldhouse may see an upgrade soon.

“The Balch Fieldhouse, we need to upgrade that and we’ve got some thoughts about that,” George said. “I think, while that facility is great, where it sits on our campus kind of connects academics and athletics, with Carlson gym being on the other side, so there’s a lot of things we could do there.”

Perhaps the biggest changes of all will be made to the lacrosse facilities, following a successful season by a women’s lacrosse team that went 13-5. The university is also set to host the 2018 Pac-12 lacrosse championship, another driving factor in their decision to better the program’s amenities.

“We’ve got to upgrade our lacrosse facilities,” George said. “We’re playing on our rec field and it’s been great and it’s been a great partnership with Campus, but we need to upgrade some of those things, like bleachers. If we’re going to host the Pac-12, do we do that on Kittredge or do we do that on Prenupt? That’s something that we’ll have to think through.”

With so much athletic success last season for the Buffs, facilities improvements will continue to be a high priority.

Naming rights may also change on your favorite CU athletics buildings so don’t be surprised if you’re sitting at Folsom Field in BSN Denver stadium in several years.

“There’s a lot of things that we need to do but it’s a 5-10 year to-do list,” George said.