Is the Cook Field arena construction on track?

In February, the Board of Trustees voted to begin construction on the new sports arena where Cook Field now sits. The arena will be ready for the start of the fall 2028 athletic season, according to Miami University’s website.

Over the summer, progress began on the construction of new recreational sports facilities at Millett and Chestnut Fields. By the time students return to campus, the turf portion of both fields will be available for use, Cody Powell, vice president of Facility Planning and Operations, said.

With recreational sports moved to the new fields, Cook Field is open for the university to start construction on the new arena. That construction, according to the university, will finish within 24 months.

“A typical arena construction project is 36 months,” said Paul Preissner, principal of Paul Preissner Architects in Oak Park, Illinois, and a professor of architecture at the University of Illinois Chicago. “It could be done quicker, but that's going to cost you.”

Preissner was a project architect for the Arizona Cardinals stadium and on the Chicago Bears Soldier Field renovation.

“When I worked on the Soldier Field stadium renovation project, that was done in 18 months,” Preissner said, “but that cost a lot more money to basically have three shifts of construction workers instead of one to two per day. So many things were occurring simultaneously that would otherwise not be in order to cut that time in half.”

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The University has taken out $281 million in debt for the project and expects to spend $90 million in interest, with $242 million allocated to the arena itself. Preissner said he can’t be sure about pricing since he doesn’t have access to internal documents and due to the unpredictability of post-Covid construction costs, but believed $240-300 million to be a reasonable estimate.

In a statement on its website, the university said it “is not proposing any increase in tuition to pay for the arena nor will any costs be passed onto students,” although tuition for incoming students rose 2%.

Powell said the changes are unrelated and that, “increases in price for tuition are related to cost of living or consumer price index and aren't tied to a specific project. The funding for this project is separate and apart from a student fee.”

The arena construction will take place in the center of campus, with dorms on one side and academic buildings on the other. Powell doesn't know what times of day work will be done, but says academic schedules and student life will be taken into consideration.

“We’re always mindful of the fact that we have people living here,” he said. “We can’t have activities that are so disruptive that it would impact students’ ability to sleep.”

Powell said he is confident the arena will meet the schedule.

“This is not new to us; we tend to be able to work with our partners […] to hit the deadlines that we set,” he said. Those partners are under contract to complete the project by the set deadline.

One such contractor is Turner Construction, the lead on the design and build team. They have worked with Miami on other facilities in the past. Turner Construction did not respond to an interview request, nor did any of the other contractors.

Despite the initial negative student reaction, Powell is looking forward to seeing the project complete.

“People have differing opinions on all the projects that we do,” he said, “but I think we’ll have a quality outcome on this particular project and it’ll be something that the university can be proud of.”

hagooda@miamioh.edu