Conceptual designs and a $250,000 contribution are two recent developments that are helping to bring a planned multi-use stadium on the west side of campus closer to reality.
When completed on the corner of Hutchison and LaRue roads near the UC Davis Medical School, the stadium will become the home of the football and women's lacrosse teams. The stadium is scheduled to open in 2005 and planning and fund-raising are in high gear.
The stadium was proposed and later approved by undergraduates during the Facilities and Campus Enhancement Initiative (F.A.C.E.) in 1999, a vote which also approved two other major capital projects - the Activities and Recreation Center and the Schaal Aquatics Complex. Construction on the ARC is underway adjacent to Recreation Hall while the aquatics facility - located in the same area as will be the stadium - has also recently broken ground.
F.A.C.E. provided $16.5 million toward the stadium when it was passed in 1999, with a $7.7 million capital campaign launched this past July to help fund the rest. Included in that $7.7 million campaign are a $1.5 million fund-raising effort to name the game field after legendary football coach Jim Sochor and a $1 million effort to name the team center after former coach Bob Foster.
Several lead contributions have helped the campaign already raise $1 million, including a sizeable gift of $250,000 donated by UC Davis alumni Nancy and Paul Sallaberry. Paul played football for Sochor in 1976 and 1977 while Nancy also competed athletically.
"For quite some time, the Sallaberrys had expressed their desire to 'give back' to the university and the athletics department," said Mike Angius, director of athletics development.
"Both Nancy and Paul feel very strongly about the value and concept of being a student-athlete on the UC Davis campus. Their gift to the stadium served as the impetus for this campaign to take off."
Opportunities to name various components of the stadium - including the press box and scoreboard - are also available at different gift levels. Nearly 20 percent of the stadium box seats have already been named. The stadium name has not been secured yet but Angius said there is considerable interest from both public and private donors. Van Dusen Strategies has been hired by Intercollegiate Athletics to help the corporate naming opportunities in the capital campaign.
Meanwhile, planning for the stadium continues in earnest with conceptual designs - prepared by Ellerbee Beckett, a noted stadium design firm - providing the most recent visuals yet to the project. Those designs were shared Thursday with the campus' stadium committee.
Director of Athletics Greg Warzecka said the next phase for the stadium will be hiring an architect, who he hopes to have on board by February.
Design will continue through most of the remainder of 2003 with the entire project scheduled to go before the UC Regents for approval in November. If approved, construction will begin in 2004.
Initial construction should provide between 13,000-14,000 permanent seats with possible expansion to as many as 30,000 seats in the years to come. Two practice fields, a team center and a modern press box are among the many amenities scheduled for the stadium.
"The stadium will fill a void in the region for different events, from high school to college football, to professional soccer, to a variety of community events," said Warzecka. "Toomey Field has been host to a lot of Aggie football games but will change its focus to become the home for track and field.
"When the new stadium is completed, it'll represent a fulfilled dream that students had in 1999 when they proposed the F.A.C.E. Initiative."
Mike Robles is Sports Information Director for UC Davis.