New Mexico State Receives $3.32M in Capital Outlay Money Requested for Athletics

The New Mexico Legislature has approved $3.32 million in support of New Mexico State University athletics facilities projects — or less than 9% of the total capital outlay amount requested by the athletic department.

As reported by the Las Cruces Sun-News, the requests were approved as part of House Bill 450 from the latest New Mexico legislative session, a bill signed Friday by governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.

A survey of the New Mexico Legislature's Capital Outlay Web Title Search showed that NMSU requested a total of $37.9 million in capital outlay projects for athletics, but only the following requests were approved:

• $2 million to replace baseball and softball turf fields at Presley Askew Field and the NM State Softball Complex. The initial request was higher at $4 million.
• $450,000 to "plan, design, construct, renovate, furnish, equip and upgrade" NMSU's softball and women's soccer facilities, including the press box and bleachers. The initial request was higher at $2.5 million.
• $300,000 to "plan, design, construct, renovate, furnish and equip" NMSU's volleyball facilities. The initial request was lower at $250,000.
• $225,000 to "plan, design, construct, furnish, equip and upgrade" the Coca-Cola Weight Training Center. The initial request was higher at $400,000.
• $150,000 to "plan, design, construct, renovate, furnish and equip" NMSU's women's athletics facilities. The initial request was lower at $100,000.
• $145,000 to "plan, design, construct, furnish and equip an upgrade" NMSU's women's soccer facilities. The initial request was higher at $300,000.
• $50,000 to "plan, design, construct, furnish, equip and upgrade" NMSU's baseball facilities. The initial request was higher at $300,000.

Two other requests of $50,000 each were initially approved in HB 450 to upgrade the parking lot at Aggie Memorial Stadium and construct a practice facility for NMSU's men's and women's golf teams. However, these approvals were vetoed by Grisham. The university originally asked for $10 million for the golf facility and $900,000 to renovate the parking lot.

According to the legislature's capital outlay search and NMSU deputy athletic director and chief operating officer Braun Cartwright, the university made these requests that were fully disapproved:

• $15 million to renovate the press box at Aggie Memorial Stadium.
• $2 million to renovate NMSU's football facilities.
• $750,000 to renovate and upgrade NMSU's athletics recovery room facilities.
• $400,000 to renovate NMSU's track and field facility.
• $250,000 each to renovate NMSU's men's and women's basketball facilities.
• $250,000 to renovate NMSU's tennis offices.
• $250,000 to renovate and upgrade the swimming and diving platform at the NM State Swimming and Diving Complex.

"We submit a lot of asks to the Legislature but we did get several of the items that we really needed due to the life span (of the baseball and softball turfs) or projects that we had in the planning stages," Cartwright told the Sun-News. "I know one of our big asks was also for our football press box (which was not approved)."

According to Nick Coppola of the Sun-News, Cartwright says NMSU always tries to have at least one request for each sport and also sends its "big ticket" requests, such as its $15 million ask for press box upgrades and its $4 million ask for new baseball and softball turfs, directly to Grisham. Others are either made to individual legislators or the New Mexico Legislature as a whole.

Some of NMSU's requests are either close to groundbreaking or need additional funding to finish the project, including its asks to renovate facilities like locker rooms for volleyball, women's basketball and softball and its $400,000 request to renovate its weight room. NMSU's requests to fund press box renovations and replace its baseball and softball turfs are still in the planning stages with no funding so far, according to Cartwright.

The New Mexico Legislature also approved $50,000 each to install safety handrails at the Pan American Center and to upgrade the New Mexico State Golf Course, although Cartwright told the Sun-News these were not athletics-specific requests.