After much back-and-forth about whether or not the University of Wisconsin would get a new competition pool as part of the rec center renovations planned to begin this decade, the university announced today that the Southeast Recreational Facility (SERF) will, in fact, include a new pool.
This pool will run a bill of about $26 million, with the total renovation package sitting at an estimated $223 million rec sports plan.
The budget was approved by a student vote earlier this year, where students approved a measure to increase recreation program fees from $36 per semester to $108 per semester (still significantly less than the Big Ten average of $145).
At the time of that vote, the pool appeared ready to be stripped from the plan. The school was looking for “outside funding,” not from students, to cover half of the cost, with students funding the other half. Prior to the vote, Wisconsin said that they had not received any additional funding.
Now, however, gift funds have begun to roll in, and the pool will give the state of Wisconsin a much-needed competitive jewel. The currently competition pool, built in 1961, is an 8-lane, 25-yard course, and while it has seating for 1,500, it is not viewed as a high-quality facility, and is arguably the worst facility in the Big Ten (though Michigan State may give them a run for that dubious title). The SERF does have an 8-lane, 50-meter pool, but it has no spectator seating and cannot host meets.
The new pool will be 50-meters long and have a separate diving well with a platform. It will also seat “a minimum of 1,500” spectators.
Construction is set to begin in 2017, and the pool will open in 2019, if all goes to plan.
The pool will be owned by Wisconsin’s rec sports department, but according to Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez, the Department of Athletics has “agreed to make a substantial financial commitment in order to help fund the pool.”
“Athletics has always been a good campus partner, and I’m pleased we are going to be able to assist with the development of this pool,” Alvarez says. “We have good fundraising momentum, but we still have work to do.”
“The addition of a competition pool was something envisioned by UW students from the conception of this plan, and recreational and athletic users alike should feel very fortunate that the funding from students, athletics and donors has come together to provide UW-Madison with a first class collegiate pool,” says John Horn, director of the Division of Recreational Sports. “This amenity addition only contributes to the state-of-the-art recreational master plan that is set to begin in the near future.”
Wisconsin’s men finished 7th at the 2014 Big Ten Championships and 33rd at NCAA’s last year; the Badger women were 6th at Big Tens and 13th at NCAA’s.
i wonder if anders holm (workaholics) contributed to this?
Congratulations, Wisconsin. Very happy to see you take a big step toward committing to a great program and facility.
Michigan State’s AD should read it and make some effort to update or create a new aquatic center in East Lansing. Kids have to swim in an ancient 6-lane 25 yard pool and compete against some of the best school in the country (UofM, OSU, etc).
Professional swimming pool equals to better recruiting, better talent and better results.
Go figure, we all thought up to this point that Barry Alvarez was simply allergic to pools. Good for him!
I am so glad to see this finally happening after I was told that we would get one in 2000. But, so excited to finally hear that it is actually happening and should be completed before 2020!!!!
So, will this be replacing the nat or the serf?
The general rec sports plan calls for razing the Nat, and the new building built on that site will have a small warm water/instructional type pool (nothing for Athletics). The SERF will be largely demolished, with the new pool built in the same general location as the existing pool, to utilize the updated locker room/team facilities in the adjacent LaBahn (Hockey Practice) facility, which was completed a couple of years ago.
Go Badgers!!
About time WI started getting some 50m competition pools besides Schroeder. Until the Rec Plex in Kenosha a few years ago that’s all there was.
sure beats what we have down in IL.
Yeah I swim for a team in wisconsin and whenever there’s a long course meet see have to go all the way to either Schroeder, which is 30 minutes away, or rex plex, which is about an hour away. It’s kind of frustrating. Literally almost all our meets in the summer are at those two pools.
I’m laughing a big, not trying to be rude- but 30min or an hour? That’s lucky! Here in Southern California Swimming, we have to drive hours for every single meet, unless you’re lucky enough to live in Orange County. When they host things in Santa Clarita, that’s easily an hour and a half for me. When they host things in Irvine or Mission Viejo(Orange County), that’s a good hour. When they host in Riverside, that’s probably two hours for me. The only pool that’s semi-close to me is La Mirada, and even that is 30minutes. Despite how many long course pools there are in SoCal, non of them seem to be in Central LA, the area I live in, they’re… Read more »
If qualify for the LA Invitational you can swim right in your Central LA backyard at the remodeled USC swim stadium! Check out the pool records there while you’re at it.