BISMARCK, ND - The University of Mary is bringing football, baseball, soccer, and outdoor track and field competition back to campus for the ultimate student, fan, and athlete gameday experience. Today, the University of Mary unveiled its master plan for its new multi-million-dollar athletics complex that includes new facilities for the aforementioned sports, and softball, which already plays on campus.
 
University of Mary President Monsignor James Shea, Executive Vice President Jerome Richter, and Interim Athletic Director Dan Huntley unveiled official architectural renderings showing the new athletics complex spanning the length of campus, between the north and south entrances, parallel to Highway 1804.
 
"We're excited to share our plans for the new University of Mary Athletics Complex, facilities we hope to not only take our level of competition to the next level, but provide a venue for the cultivation of friendship and the strengthening of character, all which lend themselves toward the ultimate goal of Marauders athletics: helping our scholar-athletes achieve greatness through the development of virtue," said Shea. "We're extremely grateful to our donors, alumni, University of Mary community, and the Bismarck-Mandan community for supporting this endeavor and allowing our scholar-athletes to use their God-given talents to again compete right here on campus. We look forward to having the Bismarck-Mandan community back out here for gamedays at Mary."

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL ATHLETICS COMPLEX RENDERINGS
 
The Game Day Plaza is at the center of the new athletics complex, a place for gathering before entering the ticketing area, football stadium, baseball field, and softball field. It will be adjacent to a parking lot that serves as the main tailgating area. Fans enter the plaza from the west along a lighted commemorative walk linked to the Lumen Vitae University Center (LVUC), and it will be generously scaled to accommodate tents and food trucks or vendors for festivals and sporting events. This hub links the new football Stadium and Research Pavilion to the north, with the new baseball and softball complex fanning out to the south and east, respectively. Next to the diamonds to the south is a new gameday soccer field enclosed by an eight-lane track and field. Nestled between the soccer and track and field complex and south entrance to the campus are intramural tennis courts and multi-use practice field. All the playing fields will have artificial turf surfaces, while the multi-use practice field will have natural grass.
 
The new Stadium and Research Pavilion is truly a multi-purpose facility for use year-round and where athletics and academics come together. On football gameday, the east side of the pavilion will be multi-tiered seating including suites that in total will accommodate approximately 2,500 fans on the main grandstand. The berm surrounding the football field will provide room for thousands-more spectators and students providing an up-close, intimate, and exciting gameday experience and atmosphere guaranteeing home field advantage for the Marauders football team. Inside the Pavilion will house the press box, coaches' offices and locker rooms, team meeting rooms, Saint Gianna School of Health Sciences research laboratories, the Institute for Faith, Virtue, and Sport, and more.
 
A seasonal air dome will enclose the football field once the season is over so all sports teams can practice inside the dome during the offseason.
 

"To say that this University of Mary Athletic Complex is decades in the making, would be an understatement," said Richter. "In 1996 our Marauders football team played a playoff game at Hegeholz Field here on campus — in nearly the same spot where our new stadium will be located — and we haven't played on campus since. God willing, we could possibly be at it again on campus in three or four years and football will once again return to campus for home competitions along with baseball and soccer, while softball moves onto the complex from its current north-campus location. We are blessed and humbled to bring back to campus these spectator sports that have had good homes throughout various locations in Bismarck over the many years, and we are deeply grateful to be part of our local community. We are honored especially to have been participants in the planning and fundraising of the MDU Community Bowl, the proud home of the Marauders for so many years, and we couldn't be more grateful for that facility. I'd like to thank our alumni, our benefactors, and our friends across this region and the United States who are helping us fund this portion of our Vision 2030 Capital Campaign. This will be a true transformation of campus, but most importantly once again provide our scholar-athletes and our fans a true collegiate gameday experience."
 
Richter adds, the University of Mary would love to start work on the new athletics complex by fall of 2023, but it will depend on fundraising.  
 
"It's huge for these coaches whose new home will be at the University of Mary Athletics Complex on campus because they can recruit scholar athletes knowing new, state-of-the-art athletic facilities will soon be built," stated Huntley. "Artificial turf surfaces and an air dome in the winter will allow our teams to practice during the offseason. And, hosting our games on campus makes athletics, even more, a place for the student body, alumni, and the local community to rally around our athletics program and experience true Benedictine hospitality. We know we have quality athletic programs at the University of Mary, but we desire greatness through virtue in every aspect, and these new facilities will go a long way in assuring those core values are met, and scholar-athletes achieve success on and off the playing field."   
 
The athletics complex is under Phase II of University of Mary's broader three-phased Vision 2030 Capital Campaign totaling $272-million worth of new campus facilities, renovations, infrastructure, roads, parking, and landscaping. In 2020, Mary announced it surpassed its Phase I goal of $96 million by raising over $100 million for the new Roers Residence Hall for women, Fieldhouse, Lumen Vitae University Center, Warford Grotto, and the Hamm School of Engineering. The current Phase II of the campaign includes four pillars: the expansion of the Hamm School of Engineering, Saint Gianna School of Health Sciences, the Welcome Center, the Master Landscaping Plan, and the athletics complex for a goal of approximately $90 million.

More details about University of Mary's Athletics Complex and the renderings can be found at www.GoUMary.com/AthleticsComplex.

Anyone who wishes to learn more about any undergraduate or graduate programs can do so at www.umary.edu, or www.online.umary.edu, respectively, or by contacting an admissions representative at enroll@umary.edu, or by calling (701) 355-8030. The University of Mary is one of only 15 Recommended Cardinal Newman Society Residential Colleges and Universities in the US.

About the University of Mary: True to its motto "lumen vitae"—The Light of Life—the University of Mary offers education for the whole of life through cutting-edge professional programs and graduate programs animated by moral courage and leadership in chosen professions and service to the community. A private, co-educational Catholic institution, the University of Mary welcomes students of all faiths and backgrounds.

A Christian, Catholic, Benedictine institution founded in 1959 by the Benedictine Sisters of Annunciation Monastery, Mary offers nearly 60 bachelor's, 15 master's, and five doctoral programs—in Business Administration, Education, Nursing Practice, Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy. The 19-sport Athletic Department adheres to its Greatness Through Virtue mission under the governance of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) conferences. With more than 3,800 students, Mary has locations in North Dakota, Montana, Arizona, Rome, Italy, as well as vibrant online offerings. For more information, visit www.umary.edu.

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