HELENA (AP)
A University of Montana request to begin planning construction of an indoor facility for athletics is on the agenda for the state Board of Regents meeting this week in Dillon. A UM request to build a new academic center for student athletes on the Missoula campus also is up for consideration by the regents, who will meet on Wednesday and Thursday. Officials from Montana State University in Bozeman plan to talk about eventual stadium work. UM wants authorization to spend $75,000 on the initial design of an indoor sports practice facility, the new academic center for athletes and renovation of men's locker rooms. Possibilities for the academic center include computer laboratories, study rooms and offices for the football staff. The proposed site for the building is near the Adams Center, the UM sports arena. MSU wants regents' approval to lease the school's football stadium to the MSU Foundation. That is a necessary step to receive in-kind donations for eventual stadium improvements, said Peter Fields, MSU director of athletics. Quiet fundraising for stadium work is under way, but it is too early to announce the size of the eventual investment, Fields said. The sports-related proposals from UM and MSU are part of a larger package, for the regents' consideration that deals with long-range building priorities for the entire state university system. Regents received a 17-item list of priorities, led by a $32 million College of Technology building that would be constructed on UM's South Campus. Also in the lineup are a $5 million agriculture research training lab at MSU in Bozeman, and a $12 million science building proposed for MSU-Billings. Higher Education Commissioner Sheila Stearns said other matters before the regents include budget requests for the 2009 Legislature to consider. "We won't make final budget decisions or long-range building projections until the May meeting, but will keep refining our priorities," Stearns said. "This is an important meeting for guidance. The campuses have done their work, and now we sift through their recommendations."
