Ball State plans Championship Performance Center for student athletes

Ball State is adding to its upcoming blitz of campus construction by adding a new performance center for student athletes.  IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann reports.

Ball State plans the interior of the new workout space for student athletes. (Courtesy of Ball State University)

On campus when looking at Worthen Arena from McKinley Avenue, the new building will sit in front of the Dr. Don Shondell Practice Center.

Athletic Director Jeff Mitchell says the 10,000 square foot building will move workout areas for student athletes out of a basement and into a space with natural light.

“This introduction of natural light is perhaps the most exciting element of this new construction…. We will have more equipment.  We will have state-of-the-art equipment, advanced equipment, anything that we can do from a championship performance standpoint.”

The state no longer allows state money to be used to build athletic facilities, so the $7.8 million for the Championship Performance Center will come from a donation campaign.  Mitchell says the school has already raised more than $5 million, or about 67 percent of the project’s cost.

The building will be named after class of 1980 alumnus Eric Foss.

In a statement, Ball State says the building will include “nutrition, athletic training, recovery, and storage and building services for 18 of the University’s 19 athletic teams, with the football team continuing to use its own facility.”

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Trustees on Friday approved the scope and budget of the new performance center project.  Construction is expected to start in February of 2025 and be finished by the end of that year.

The project joins other state-funded renovations of several on-campus buildings and the construction of a new arts performance center, which is all scheduled to be done by mid-2026.

Stephanie Wiechmann is our Managing Editor and “All Things Considered” Host.  Contact her at slwiechmann@bsu.edu.