ORONO – The head of the Harold Alfond Foundation said its $80 million gift to the University of Maine’s athletic program announced this week would help cover rising construction costs to build facilities worthy of competitive Black Bear sports teams.
Greg Powell said the foundation’s second gift to the program in four years, coming after a $90 million donation to UMaine athletics in 2020, stemmed from the leadership shown by the university’s administration and coaches in creating a climate of success and looking toward the future.
“The planning by the university was ambitious and we wanted to make sure it got done right,” Powell said, noting that COVID increased construction costs significantly in recent years. “We looked at the plans, we looked at what it took and what’s been done so far to get it done and to be really, really high class.”
Powell praised the university for recent facilities upgrades completed with the first grant. Those include new state-of-the-art softball and field hockey venues and improvements to the Alfond Arena, Morse Field and Mahaney Diamond.
New facilities and improvements to existing sports venues are planned, including an arena for the men’s and women’s basketball teams. Powell said he feels it is “really important” to build a multipurpose center because it “goes across all sports and basketball would particularly benefit from it.”
The basketball teams currently play in the antiquated Memorial Gym although the men’s team is playing two games at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
“We’re very proud of what’s been done. We’re proud of the athletes here. We’re proud of the momentum of the programs here. Mr. Alfond would want things done right,” said Powell, referring to the late philanthropist and UMaine benefactor for whom the foundation is named.
The new investment in facilities comes as several UMaine sports teams have shown success. Over the past six year, the field hockey and women’s soccer teams earned their first ever NCAA Tournament berths; the football team reached the Football Championship Subdivision semifinals for the first time ever; the women’s basketball team earned back–to-back NCAA tourney berths and has won four of the last six regular season titles in America East; the baseball team went to the NCAA Tournament last spring and the men’s hockey team is currently ranked seventh in the nation.
UMaine athletic director Jude Killy said he is “incredibly grateful” to the Harold Alfond Foundation for its generosity and that one of the benefits of this grant is they can begin their projects sooner.
“We would like to complete the entire plan by 2028, which is pretty aggressive,” he said.
The additional $80 million from the Harold Alfond Foundation and additional funds raised through gifts and pledges will be vital for upcoming projects like the 13,000-square-foot addition to the Shawn Walsh Center in Alfond Arena, which will include renovated strength and conditioning facilities, new film room, recovery rooms, team offices, expanded locker rooms and team lounges along with a 4,900-square-foot expansion to the arena itself.
There will also be improvements to Mahaney Diamond and the Mahaney Clubhouse, the repositioning of the installment of new visiting sideline bleachers at Alfond Stadium along with upgraded football operation areas and the replacement of the Mahaney Dome with a connector to Memorial Gymnasium.
The recently announced New Balance Track and Field and Soccer complex and a supplementary multi-purpose turf area will hopefully be completed by 2025.
Killy said building costs have increased by “30 to 40 percent, depending upon who you talk to” but he feels the $170 million plus the $30 million senior associate athletic director for development and capital planning Seth Woodcock and his staff is expecting to raise will cover the cost of the entire project. He said they have raised $20 million so far.