The University of Oregon football team may have lost the national championship to Ohio State on Monday night, but its students can look forward to working out in a renovated student recreation center.
The $50 million renovation includes 110,000 square feet of new space—giving the rec center a total of 280,000 square feet on the Eugene, OR, campus—and 40,000 square feet of renovated space.
In fact, about 100 Oregon students gathered at the renovated student rec center Monday night to watch the college football playoff national championship game, with hopes of being on the ESPN telecast, the Oregon Daily Emerald reported.
Among the features included in the renovation are a doubling of space for cardio and weights, new group exercise and yoga studios, an additional three-court gym, a whirlpool spa, a 12-lane lap pool, a three-lane recreational pool, a rock-climbing gym, a 32-TV-screen media wall and other expanded areas.
Construction, which began in August 2013, is funded by students with a $38-per-term student rec center facility fee. Crews put the finishing touches on the renovation this month.
Overcrowding was one of the main reasons for the renovation, according to the university. The center was intended to accommodate 2,500 people per day, but the university said 4,500 to 6,500 people per day were using the center before the renovation.
According to the Associated Press, the university hopes the student rec center will become just the third recreation center in the country to be certified as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building by the U.S. Green Building Council. The other two LEED-certified university rec centers are at Iowa State University and the University of Arizona, Kevin Marbury, the university's director of physical education and recreation, told the AP.