North Dakota breaks ground on new performance center

Earlier this week, officials from the University of North Dakota gathered for the ground-breaking ceremony on its newest athletic facility, the Nodak Insurance Company Sports Performance Center.

The building will be home to North Dakota’s athletic administration staff, a weight room, a sports medicine area as well as locker rooms for football, softball, cross country and track & field.

A recent story from Yahoo! Sports details the future plans for the University of North Dakota. Below is an excerpt from the Yahoo! Sports story.

“This is something that needed to take place for a day-to-day basis for almost two-thirds of our student-athletes,” UND athletic director Bill Chaves said. “For them to come every day to a premier facility to hone their skills is incredible important.”

The facility has been years in the making, but it’s not the end for UND.

Chaves said the athletic department has already set its eyes on developing the parking lot to the north of the Fritz Pollard Athletic Center.

“Our facilities master plan, which is integrated with the university’s master plan, still discusses the possibility of doing something to the north, across Second Avenue,” Chaves said. “That’s certainly high on our list. In aeronautical terminology, we haven’t necessarily landed the plane yet, but we’re certainly hoping we’re heading toward the airport.”

The plan is to build a mixed-used facility via a public-private partnership and a softball stadium, which would be located in the old Ralph Engelstad Arena parking lot.

“That’s the thought at this point,” Chaves said. “Those are the discussions we’re currently having at this point.”

To read the full story from Yahoo! Sports about the UND facility upgrades, click here.