The University of Maine announced plans Wednesday for a new track and field and soccer facility on its Orono campus, made possible by a $7 million gift from New Balance Athletics.
The project will feature a state-of-the-art soccer turf field adjacent to a modernized track, along with new spaces for field competition, the school said in a news release, and will be named the New Balance Track & Field and Soccer Complex.
The donation augments a $90 million gift from the Harold Alfond Foundation in 2020 to upgrade and construct athletic facilities on the campus over a 10-year period. As part of the Alfond Foundation gift, UMaine officials pledged to raise another $20 million through private donations over the same 10-year period to complete a planned $110 million investment in athletic facilities.
The first of those facilities, a $9.5 million softball field with synthetic turf, was completed this spring. In August, the university held a ribbon cutting for its new field hockey complex.
The $7 million gift is the second major contribution made by New Balance to UMaine athletics, following a $5 million commitment in 2011. A portion of that gift supported renovations to the New Balance Field House and the New Balance Student Recreation and Fitness Center.
“We appreciate New Balance’s generosity and their confidence in UMaine’s Division I athletic program,” University of Maine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy said in the news release. “Generous gifts like this one from New Balance help support infrastructure and create modern facilities necessary to serve students and the state and we are grateful.”
Along with the gift announced Wednesday, New Balance and the University of Maine will partner for a newly developed ‘Future Scholars’ endowed scholarship in the amount of $2,500 annually. The scholarship will be awarded each year to a graduate of Skowhegan Area High School who plans to attend one of seven universities within the University of Maine System.
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