In Sports Illustrated's college football preview issue, the magazine will praise ASU's new Intercollegiate Athletics Center as the best in the nation, according to Jeff Evans, spokesman for ASU intercollegiate athletics.
The building faces Stadium Drive and overlooks Sun Devil Stadium, with 63,000 added square feet and reconfigured offices. The complete renovation of the athletic building was a $19.1 million project funded with money privately raised and was renamed the Ed and Nadine Carson Student-Athlete Center.
Construction for the new building started the day after the 2001 Fiesta Bowl ended, taking nearly one and a half years to complete.
The below-ground level features the Sun Devil locker room, a Swim-Ex underwater treadmill and a state-of-the-art weight training facility, which increased from 4,000 to 15,000 square feet. The equipment room and sports medicine area are also located on the lower level.
The Sun Devil football locker room has significantly increased in size with large, individual wood lockers for each player, where for a $1000 donation, lockers can be sponsored. The sponsorship includes a brass dedication plaque, inscribed with the sponsor's name, uniform number, position played, academic and athletic accomplishments and inspirational quote.
Former ASU student athletes, from Darren Woodson to Ryan Kealy, have already purchased plaques.
Evans said the upgraded locker room is a great recruiting tool.
"It is about as good as it gets for college football," Evans said. "Cool locker rooms - that's what it comes down to."
The 16,000-square-foot, $650,000 weight room is the main attraction of the new athletic building, especially for incoming recruits. Two weeks ago, Sports Illustrated spent two days in the new athletic facility photographing the weight room for its college football preseason issue.
Frank Maddox, a justice studies junior and football player, said the new facility is awesome.
"It is definitely a huge improvement from what we used to have," Maddox said. "The weight room is better and the locker room is better."
The main entrance area on the first floor features the ticket office, a souvenir shop, the media relations office and the Hall of Fame.
The second floor provides student services, with study halls, one-on-one tutoring and a computer lab.
The third floor houses a 150-seat theatre for team meetings and post-game press conferences.
"The theater allows the whole football team to have a meeting as a whole," Evans said. "It is an invaluable tool when you have recruits."
The football, baseball, volleyball and men and women's basketball offices are also on the third floor. All offices have views of either Sun Devil Stadium or southern Tempe.
The fourth floor contains the loge level of the stadium, where 1,677 loge level seats were added in 1998. Ticket holders in this level have concessions and television monitors for replays.
The fifth floor houses the Hobbs Family Stadium Club area, offices for the Sun Angel Foundation, marketing and promotions offices and a conference room.
The club area is a new dining facility that will be used for training table, where student athletes eat healthy meals, and it will as serve as an entertainment setting for football games, as it overlooks the Frank Kush Field. A student athlete lounge, soon to be completed with pool tables, will give athletes a place to congregate and relax.
The sixth floor contains the athletic administration and stadium management offices.
Reach the reporter at erin.hawksworth@asu.edu.
