With the official opening of its new indoor football facility, Cole Field House went from iconic to eye-popping today.
A large crowd made up of university and state officials, Maryland coaches and fans, their heads filled with decades-old memories of the former basketball arena, came away both awestruck and impressed after seeing the beginnings of how the 61-year-old building will be turned into state-of-the-art facility that combines football with medical research and business.
Five years in the making, the proposed $155 million project will eventually include a 40,000-square-foot weight room, new offices and two practice fields for the football team as well as the Center for Sports Medicine, Health and Human Performance, an orthopedic treatment center and the UM Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.