Syracuse football indoor facility (not the Dome)

Syracuse has the domed stadium but that's not enough: Syracuse is building an indoor practice field. This upstate indoor palace of sports practice will have 87,000 square feet of space (a football playing surface including end zones is ~60,000). From [www.syracuse.com]: "In my mind, this is a Taj Majal," said Pete Sala, SU's senior associate athletics director for facilities. "It's going to be an absolutely beautiful, beautiful facility." As it should for New York's College Team.



Harvard, Princeton (and Penn?) are putting inflatable bubbles on outdoor playing fields for the winter months. How long will it be before an Ivy builds its own permanent indoor practice facility big enough to also play games in (as Cornell lax did at Michigan last year)? The Post-Standard did a rundown on indoor football facilities in the ACC: [www.syracuse.com]. A full field indoors, 120 x 55 yards x about 70 feet high, can be built for less than $10 million. An inflatable bubble is $1-$2 million. The Syracuse facility is $17 million.


Now that it's in the ACC, Syracuse is also stepping up in uniforms if not football prowess. Last night at the Meadowlands, No. 8 Notre Dame manhanded Syracuse, which has little offense, a reasonable defense, and Nike jerseys that have a spandex Confederacy look with a pumpkin plopped on top.

Cornell at least needs an inflatable bubble for winter practice, however, with parts of the west stands at Schoellkopf field condemned, I guess that probably won't happen.