North Florida University Athletics announced some enhancements coming to UNF Arena in Jacksonville. Additions will include a hospitality suite, bar and lounge plus premium balcony seating on the west end of the facility.
The Bank of England Hospitality Suite will provide UNF Athletic donors a semi-private area within the arena with a focus on creating a premier game-day experience. The suite would also be available for other university events and provide rental revenue opportunities for additional external and corporate gatherings.
The suite will be available to all 19 Osprey programs for use during recruiting.
“The Bank of England Hospitality Suite will provide a game-changing experience for our fans which will translate to an incredible game-day experience for our student-athletes," said UNF Athletic Director Nick Morrow. "The Arena atmosphere will forever be changed with the completion of this project.”
The hospitality space will serve a vital role for the entire athletic department on non-event days as well with the capability of dividing the area into two separate rooms. One room would serve as a conference room for use by teams and administration for meetings. The other room would become a film/video room allowing coaches and teams important evaluation and opponent scouting opportunities.
The Brix Taphouse Bar will be the centerpiece to the suite, providing a casual and relaxed atmosphere for donors before, during and after the game.
The John Gerri Hayt Osprey Outlook is the balcony area extending off the front of the hospitality suite and above the west baseline providing a unique view for its 72 premium chair back seats.
A new arena sound system will be installed to continue growing the overall fan experience. The latest enhancements will be coupled with the recent installation of new seatback bleachers along the sidelines and new LED lighting. — North Florida Ospreys
The long awaited 36,000 square-foot Warrior Way Fitness Center in Fort Hood, Texas, opened for business in mid-October.
The facility boasts all new state-of-the-art equipment, some that are unique to Warrior Way, and brand new showers, which are the largest of the gyms on post.
Unique to the Warrior Way Fitness Center are two Assault Fitness Air Runners, premier running machines. The facility also has six rig lifting platforms, 12 stack multi jungle systems and concept rowers. Brand new kettlebells, dumbbells, ropes and medicine balls have also been added.
The reaction from gym patrons has been very positive thus far, with many citing that the vast space and new equipment is a huge draw.
“There’s multiple machines of everything, so you don’t have to keep waiting for someone to get off the machine and I know you have to do that at a lot of the other gyms,” Spc. Bryana Ramirez, 11th CSB, said. “I like the cable machines, I think it helps that there’s about ten of them, it looks like, because usually there’s only two on each side and it’s always so crowded over there.”
Gym staff have plans to start putting on events within the gym sometime in the future. — U.S. Army Fort Hood Public Affairs
After waiting about a year due to COVID, the University of Texas Permian Basin held the ribbon cutting and grand opening for the D. Kirk Edwards Family Human Performance Center in October.
The 63,717-square-foot state-of-the-art facility has been in service for about a year, but Friday was the day they were able to celebrate.
The building contains kinesiology, athletic programs and research. It also offers labs and research opportunities for faculty and students.
Woodley said during the ceremony that they were celebrating what the building signifies for UTPB and what it can help them accomplish for the region.
Beuk said the building is not only gorgeous, but it’s highly functional for educating and training future human performance and healthcare professionals.
The facility started off at $2 million and was supposed to be a place where the football team lifted weights, changed clothes and things like that. But thanks to local lawmakers who got tuition revenue bonds, the building morphed into what it is today. — Odessa American