Courtesy of Eastern Kentucky University
Eastern Kentucky University's Baptist Health Arena at Alumni Coliseum has closed to begin facility renovations.
Alumni Coliseum is the longtime home to EKU men's and women's basketball, volleyball and other events. 
With construction underway at Alumni Coliseum for the remainder of the year, the EKU volleyball team will play its 2024 home games inside the Rick Erdmann Olympic Sports Training Center on the Campus Beautiful this fall.
Notable features of the revitalized Alumni Coliseum will include:
- A 300-person concourse club
- A conference area
- A courtside club
- Enhanced concessions
- New restrooms
- A fan shop
- Updated audio and video capabilities
- Expanded sports medicine spaces
- Locker rooms
- Player meeting spaces
Alumni Coliseum's iconic wooden laminated cross-arched roof, spanning 309 feet, will remain.
The state-of-the-art restoration is set to be finished by fall 2025.
The Eugene Emeralds, a Minor League Baseball team in Oregon, say the team will leave town if it doesn’t secure funding for a new stadium by June 1, because the team's facility must meet Major League Baseball standards.
The team wants taxpayers — in Eugene, Lane County and across Oregon — to pay for the majority of the project cost, which is about $90.5 million.
In May, Eugene voters will decide if they will tax themselves to give the team what it wants, or if the Ems’ ultimatum is too expensive for the promised rewards of keeping the team in Eugene.
The Emeralds have been the city’s minor league baseball team for the past 70 years.
More:
- A new 45,000-square-foot rec center will soon offer Staten Islanders in New York a variety of recreational amenities, including sports courts, four electric vehicle charging stations, an indoor-outdoor running track, and fitness and cardio rooms. Officials held a ceremonial groundbreaking Feb. 23 in Tompkinsville for the new $92 million Mary Cali Dalton Center, named for the Island’s former borough director of recreation for the Parks Department. City officials expect the new recreation center to be complete by the end of 2025.
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