Update on South Campus Sports Complex
The future of athletics at Bluefield University is getting a whole lot brighter as the development of sports facilities continues on BU’s south campus.
South campus is 11 acres of land located on College Avenue across from the main campus and in front of Lansdell Hall. The land was donated to the university by the late Katharine B. Tierney and is being developed into outdoor athletics space that will serve several BU sports teams, including football, men’s and women’s soccer, and softball.
“The complete project will include a multi-use field, softball complex, and multi-sport locker room building within walking distance of main campus,” said Vice President for Institutional Advancement Joshua D. Cline. “The project is the collaborate work of the Athletics Department, Advancement Office and President’s Office with the guidance of the Board of Trustees’ Facilities Committee (now known as the Operations and Technology Committee).”
Once fully completed, the multi-sport complex will also include a press box with two film rooms, scout room, a radio room, and a sports information room. In addition, the complex will have a fan store where students, parents, and other fans can purchase Bluefield University sportswear or other merchandise.
Phase one of the project will cost $4.1 million, and according to Cline most of those funds are coming from donations originally given for the construction of a Campus and Community Wellness Center — a project put on hold for the time being. But the development of the facilities on south campus is moving forward, Cline said, and is currently in phase one, which entails pad development, earth moving, and the construction of a multi-use turf field and a softball field with a turf outfield. Completing the project, Cline added, is a “priority set forth by the Board of Trustees.”
In addition to current sports benefiting from the new complex, future sports will also benefit, including a women’s lacrosse team currently being explored by the university.
Head coach for softball Baylee Allen expressed her excitement for the south campus additions by saying, “College should always be positive, and all athletes will always be able to do their work whenever they want to instead of having to work with the little league field on their hours.”
Baylee added that the addition of the athletic complex on south campus will not only benefit current student-athletes, but also the recruitment of future BU student-athletes.
“It’s hard to get athletes to come to Bluefield,” Allen said, “because when I get a good softball player on campus and they ask where I play and I say I play off campus at a little league park, it makes it harder to get the better athletes to come here.”
