I went thru the current Athletic Master Plan Capital Projects.
http://www.niusustain.com/campaign-overview/#
While going thru the projects I noticed some differences with the orignal document from Oct 2014.
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/niu/...r_Plan.pdf
To me this is a positive sign that while the state budget made Athletics not able to move forward publicly on anything, there has been some real progress that can be seen with to the changes between the two plans.
Here is what I have noticed in order of the Capital Projects links
New projects I also included the cost.
The Convo
The main Convo addition image has been removed. This was the main (most expensive) part of the project costing 11mil.
However there have been 2 two smaller projects have been added and seem MUCH more realistic to be added MUCH sooner.
$50k
"A new video room within the Convocation Center will be used for all NIU athletic programs to prepare our Huskie student-athletes athletically and academically. This video room will house the best film equipment possible."
IMO this is a on point use of money for actually trying to improve the team and for recruiting of future players and coaches.
$200k
The Nelson Club is the premium area for NIU men’s basketball and other Convocation Center events. The room is dedicated after David and Linda Nelson for their generous support. We strive to provide a first-class experience for our donors and season ticket members and this renovation will allow us to enhance the gameday and event atmosphere.
I do not know how the Nelson Club is now but I would imagine that it has not seen much more than a superficial improvement since it was built in 2002. This is an opportunity to improve the high end offerings as a sold out Nelson Club (included floor seats) is worth more than the rest of the convo ticket sales for the best MBB attendance of the year.
Gymnastic Pit - This is a totally new adder
$60k
"These enhancements provided the gymnastics team with a more comprehensive practice space. These improvements greatly enhance the student-athlete experience and better prepare the team for competition."
This is basically a realistic understanding that the full Olympic building is a bit further down the road and this needs to be done now to stay competitive and even improve on what they have.
Baseball Stadium
Totally new renderings has been uploaded.
Changed include...
Reducing seating from 1500 to 1000 but still leaving room for more if needed in the future. Also it SEEMS that the 200-300 chariback seats are no longer in the plan
There is an entirely new structure add here that is to be the indoor batting cages and also includes bathrooms, showers and lockerooms.
The scoreboard moving from Center to Left field.
NIU logo on center field. Also its not mentioned but I am cretin that I was told it is planned to be a Field Turf playing surface.
The visitor bullpen rotating 90 degrees. This change along with the new structure mentioned above give a lot of room for expansion by quite a lot if ever needed (to attract a summer league team)
Softball Stadium
The original plan mentioned of a new perimeter fence with a concrete curb at the base. This is no longer mentioned.
The layout of the bleacher addition has been refined but seems to still be kept at 1000 total seats.
Olympic Sports Village & Indoor Tennis Center
No changes noticed - I think other than the Convo main project these are the furthest off.
Scoccer & Track
A rendering has been uploaded for the new stands
Nutrition Center
$250k
"Due to new NCAA legislation, we have the opportunity to provide nutritional support for our student-athletes more frequently, directly impacting their nutritional goals and athlete performance. Nutritional eating plans are essential for our student-athletes to train and compete at the highest level and we are committed to not only accommodate but advance the nutritional health of our 400+ student-athletes. The Nutrition Center will serve our student-athletes nutritional needs and will also serve as a training ground for NIU’s Kinesiology Department."
It was not on the orignal plan because it wasn't a thing back when the NCAA said the schools couldn't give the SAs snacks. This should be a top project for overall recruiting for all sports.
Huskie Stadium
No changes are noticed on the top view rendering but several newer 3D renderings have been uploaded...The only new thing is a more even transition between the top of the East stands and the new South Bowl seating. This looks much better than the top view originally released.
Also 3 others have been made public within the past 2 years (2016 HAF packet I believe) but some may have not yet seen them...