The state Board of Regents approved the budget, schematic design, and project design for the UI’s new Indoor Athletics Practice and Recreation Facility, the first phase of a larger football facility project.

The facility — set to cost $19.5 million — will include a full-length football field. In addition to football, the building will serve Hawkeye baseball, softball, and soccer. The 102,100-square-foot structure is scheduled to be built west of the Recreation Building, and it will be paid for through Athletics Department Gifts and Earnings, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and Recreational Services Renewal and Improvement funds. It is slated for completion in the fall of 2012.

The building will replace the Bubble, the existing indoor practice facility.

— by Sam Lane