Plans in works to build $9 million AFA indoor facility

Air Force has made the initial steps toward the construction of a privately funded $9 million indoor facility for intercollegiate sports.

According to sports information director Troy Garnhart, the athletic department has submitted a proposal for the building through regular academy channels, starting with civil engineering, and has solicited artist's renderings. Academy officials also are working to secure donations to pay for the project.

Though plans are in their infancy, officials are confident the facility will become a reality.

"If everything falls into place and goes well, the hope is it will be completed by the fall of 2010," Garnhart said.

Football coach Troy Calhoun has stressed the need for such a building because the academy's current indoor space in the Falcon Athletic Center is too small to conduct full-field drills. He also has said it is inadequate for baseball and that for several months in the winter, it is occupied almost entirely by the indoor track team.

The proposed building, which would be built on the fields behind the Falcon Athletic Center, also would help the football program keep pace with other Division I schools that show off indoor facilities to recruits.

According to Garnhart, the proposed facility would be similar to the climate-controlled, 70,000-square-foot Sam Baugh Indoor Practice Facility at TCU. The Air Force football team practiced there in preparation for last season's Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas.

Nonprofit update
The Secretary of the Air Force approved the academy's proposal to recast the athletic department as a federally chartered nonprofit organization under Title 36, U.S. Code.

But the academy probably is at least 18 months from converting to nonprofit status, Garnhart said, because the proposal must go through the Office of the Secretary of Defense and then the House Armed Services Committee before it becomes part of the National Defense Authorization Act.

Academy athletic director Hans Mueh has pushed to change the department's structure so he can generate more revenue, invest reserve funds, solicit donations and more easily put donations to use.