Jacksonville University plans new football stadium, facilities

Jacksonville University unveiled plans for a new football stadium and practice facilities as part of a new fundraising initiative. The university is hoping to raise $85 million by 2016, which will go to the new facilities, scholarships, research, the university's endowment, and unspecified future land purchases. The stadium, which would be the home of the football and lacrosse teams, is expected to have a capacity of 4,500.

Aside from the football stadium and practice facility, the plans call for an athletics center, which will include the sports medicine clinic, weight room, and a university sports hall of fame.

University president Kerry Romesburg said that the new facilities will help market JU, and help move the school into the future:

"This is what’s going to take us into our future," Romesburg said. "This is going to take us from where we are to where we want to be."

The football team currently plays its home games at D.B. Milne Field, an on-campus, multi-purpose field with a capacity of 5,000. They play in the Pioneer Football League, a FCS football-only conference.