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UCLA: New Football, Basketball Facility Completion Times’ Set

By Matt Wagner

Nov 28, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; General view of the line of scrimmage during an NCAA football game between the UCLA Bruins and the Southern California Trojans at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 28, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; General view of the line of scrimmage during an NCAA football game between the UCLA Bruins and the Southern California Trojans at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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The new UCLA Football and Basketball facilities are almost here as the Athletic Department as set the time frame for completion.

Beginning in 2013, UCLA announced the beginning of campaigns to build new football and basketball athletic centers.

Regarding the monetary needs, they seem to be ahead of schedule, thus leading to the following.

UCLA announced on March 31 that dates had been set for the openings of both the football and basketball center.

Although specific dates were not mentioned in the announcement, time frames were established for both.

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The Wasserman Football Center is currently on-track to open by “the end of summer 2017,” according to the UCLA Athletic Department. Wasserman will reportedly be an improved on-campus practice and training facility, as opposed to the rather infamous 80-yard Spaulding Field that is currently in use.

The Mo Ostin Basketball Center is on schedule to open in the fall of 2017, just over three years after a donation campaign was launched in the spring of 2014 in an effort to raise money for the highly-anticipated project.

In my personal opinion, the construction and subsequent opening of these facilities will help both athletic prestige and aid recruiting efforts in Pac-12 areas and nationally.

Football is attempting to reach elite status, however the lack of a regulation practice facility might very well have hurt UCLA’s recruiting efforts in some respect, especially considering that Oregon — considered the mecca of excellence regarding facilities — is one of the Bruins’ rivals to the northwest.

Basketball, meanwhile, is trying to establish itself back on solid footing at this point, following a disastrous 2015-16 campaign after a 2014-15 season that was rife with mixed results. That could be aided with the addition of a great 2016 recruiting class that includes the signed guard Lonzo Ball and the committed big man TJ Leaf.

Next: UCLA Football Spring Practice Day 2

The Ostin Basketball Center will definitely aid in recruiting similar to Wasserman, and hopefully the 2016 class and the upcoming basketball facility signals the symbolic start of new and better beginnings for the program.