GOOD NEWS: $75 Million Star will be relocating to Oklahoma Sooners

ORMAN — Oklahoma will officially arrive at its new home in the Southeastern Conference on July 1, 2024. On Tuesday, the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents took another significant step toward making sure the Sooners — and the athletic facilities they call home — will fit in among their future

An estimated $175 million project budget for a new, “state-of-the-art” OU football operations facility highlighted roughly $390 million in athletic facility expansion and improvement funds approved by the regents at a meeting Tuesday afternoon.

Additional budget approvals include the construction of a $75 million student-athlete success center and funds for renovations and upgrades that will directly affect a dozen athletic programs beyond football

All the projects will be funded through a combination of private and athletic department funds.

In a meeting on Nov. 30, the regents voted to approve the selection of architectural firm HOK to oversee the upcoming football facilities project. Tuesday’s developments included a request to hire a construction manager to work alongside the architect and the formal approval of the project’s nine-figure budget

The future home of the Sooners’ football program will sit adjacent to Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and will include updated facilities for strength and conditioning, recovery, nutrition, sports medicine and dining, as well as meeting spaces, coaches’ offices and two new practice sites, according to OU Athletics Director Joe Castiglione.

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“It’s a comprehensive football operations facility,” Castiglione said Tuesday, “so everything you could think of.”

He called fundraising for the project “ongoing” and said no public timeline has been set for the opening of the football facility.

Tuesday’s approval comes less than five years after the Switzer Center—OU’s current football operations facility that was part of a $160 million stadium expansion and renovation—was dedicated in May 2018. Uses for that building could include academic offices and other student-athlete support services, additional space for SEC Network studios, and offices to house other OU athletic programs.

The estimated $175 million price tag will land the Sooners not only on par with their soon-to-be conference counterparts in the SEC but could (at least momentarily) set the new standard in a facilities boom that has unfolded across major college football over the last two decades.

In 2013, Oregon unveiled a shiny, $68 million football facility that became the model of the time for football programs across the nation. Ten years later, OU is set to embark on its new football-specific facility at 2½ times the cost.

Of the four SEC football programs to complete facility overhauls since 2021, none has eclipsed a budget greater than the $91.9 million Auburn spent on the Woltosz Football Performance Center, which opened late last year. Florida’s Heavener Football Training Center, which opened in August 2022, was built for an estimated $85 million. Georgia’s latest football-specific development cost the Bulldogs $80 million; South Carolina dropped $50 million on the new facility it’s called home since 2021.

Outside the SEC, Nebraska could move into its $165 million football complex as soon as this summer. The facility that Florida State broke ground on in December is estimated to cost between $75 million and $100 million.

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“Comparative analysis is always a part of it,” Castiglione said. “Sometimes (the media) frame it as keeping up with the Joneses. I don’t think it’s as much as it is that the quest to recruit the best and the brightest is as competitive as it’s ever been. And it’s an entirely new landscape.

“So we have to provide a comprehensive approach that makes Oklahoma the most attractive definition for the best and the brightest and do what we do best,” he continued. “Facilities are definitely part of that, and they always will be.”

Tuesday marked the first regents meeting since OU secured its 2024 departure for the SEC. OU President Joe Harroz explained that the board will meet in the coming weeks to formally approve the early exit from the Big 12.

“All the loose ends will be tied up,” he said.

Castiglione teased plans for facilities projects beyond football following the November regents meeting. Tuesday came with approval for a $75 million “student-athlete success center” and upgrades that will benefit at least 12 additional programs on campus, including softball ($47.9 million), baseball ($45 million), gymnastics ($13.75 million), and the golf, tennis and track programs.

Also approved is a $9.5 renovation to the men’s and women’s basketball team suites inside the Lloyd Noble Center.