More intramural fields may be in store for ASU as the City of Tempe negotiates plans to build a shared-use field facility on the north side of West Rio Salado Parkway.
“ASU has a need to relocate some of their intramural fields and sports fields on campus,” said Jyme Sue McLaren, deputy community development manager for City of Tempe.
McLaren presented updates at the sports, tourism, recreation, arts and cultural development council committee meeting Wednesday.
“(Existing) facilities are utilized to the maximum extent possible,” McLaren said. “They have tournaments and intramural sports scheduled at midnight.”
Though McLaren said that the project is tentative and far from being a concrete plan, negotiations are ongoing.
“It’s still up in the air,” said Steve Nielsen, ASU vice president of economic development. “We’re still waiting for definitive direction from the city.”
Nielsen said the budget for the project is $9.4 million but due to the potential need for remediation of the site, he isn’t sure if the project would exceed that amount.
Nielsen said that the student recreation fee included in all on-campus ASU student tuition provides the funds.
“We floated the idea with the city nine months ago and they were receptive,” Nielsen said.
McLaren said Tempe tentatively plans to provide the land in exchange for shared use and ASU would build the facility.
“We have focused primarily on a large 20-acre site of land … west of Tempe Center for the Arts and east of the Priest (Drive) yard facility,” she said.
Travis Dray, Tempe deputy director of recreation services, said Tempe would use the facility to draw regional tournaments for rugby, lacrosse and soccer.
“There are certain tournaments through (Amateur Athletic Union) … (and) right now they’re most likely being held in other communities,” Dray said. “We would have the facility to actually invite them to our community.”
Councilmember Mark Mitchell chaired the Wednesday meeting.
“More importantly I think it really provides a quality of life for ASU students, (and) having been an alumni from ASU and partaking in their intramural program, I know how important that is,” Mitchell said.
McLaren said that they are tackling a few questions such as facility management, Tempe’s economic return and parking.
“One of the other significant challenges … is that ASU uses the facility Monday through Thursday,” she said. “We need the fields Thursday through Sunday (so) they can’t be worn down.”
Mitchell said they hope to increase tourism to Tempe with the facility.
Reach the reporter at sksmith9@asu.edu
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