The Rev. Daniel Hendrickson, S.J., the president of Creighton University, presents a speech highlighting the Sports Performance Center initiative preparing for the groundbreaking addition to CU.
Creighton University has officially broken ground on its new Sports Performance Center, a 50,000 square-foot facility that will include a dining hall, academic advising, sports medicine, psychology services, an outdoor training area, a new strength and conditioning space and gathering spaces for the university’s athletes.
The Rev. Daniel Hendrickson, S.J., the university president, said the Sports Performance Center, which is part of the Fly Together initiative, will be the crown jewel of an athletic village on the Omaha campus.
The Fly Together initiative was announced in September and is a donor-funded $300 million initiative to transform and enhance the athletic and recreation facilities at the university. It includes 11 new or updated facilities on the eastern end of campus.
At the groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 13, Hendrickson explained that he hopes the Sports Performance Center will help take care of each of the university’s over 300 student-athletes.
“The Sports Performance Center is more than just a building,” Hendrickson said in his speech. “Its design and the activities that will take place there reflect, what we say on this campus in our Jesuit tradition, a sense of cura personalis, or caring for the whole person — or in this case, caring for the whole student athlete. And what better time than now to step forward and lean into the holistic aspect of our student-athlete?”
Marcus Blossom, Creighton’s McCormick endowed athletic director, shared a similar sentiment in his speech at the event.
“This is truly a student-centered facility. When I arrived at Creighton more than four years ago, one of our first steps was to ask our student-athletes how we could improve their overall experience,” he said. “Their feedback was clear and consistent. Among the many suggestions received, two stood out above the rest: a need for more dedicated weight room and strength and conditioning space, and enhanced dining and nutritional services to support their academic and athletic demands. We heard them loud and clear, and we responded.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF CASEY HOAG
Fly Together hosts groundbreaking ceremony, marking the start of construction on the Sports Performance Center, to be completed by 2027.
Blossom added that the facility will help the university in recruiting and retaining top student-athletes because it allows Creighton to combine state-of-the-art athletic facilities and resources with talented coaches and athletes. However, he said it isn’t just about recruiting or having training spaces.
“This will be more than just a building, more than just a training facility, and this is about far more than wins and losses. This investment is an expression of our deeper commitment to student formation [and] to create a community where connections flourish, friendships endure and our student-athletes have a home to learn, grow and support one another as peers and teammates,” Blossom said. “This is what makes this new facility and the broader Fly Together project so exciting and so impactful.”
The Sports Performance Center is set to be finished by 2027, and Blossom said that Creighton’s athletic community is looking forward to it.
“Our student-athletes are so excited to have a building like this where they get to learn together, mingle and also have all the athletic things they need. … I think it just speaks to how we value all of our student-athletes. We didn’t just build this for men’s basketball or volleyball — we built it for everybody,” he said.
Elizabeth Gentry, a sophomore on the women’s basketball team, echoed this sentiment when she spoke at the event, sharing her gratitude and excitement for the new facility.
“Today, as we celebrate the groundbreaking of the new Sports Performance Center, I see how those small, everyday moments will grow into something even bigger,” she said. “I can already imagine smoothies and meals shared, the shots made, the victories celebrated and the bonds formed in new spaces. … I’m excited to see the new Sports Performance Center turn priceless moments into something even bigger for me, my teammates and future Bluejays.”
Blossom thinks students that aren’t athletes should be excited for the Fly Together initiative as well.
“The other part of the project is the non-student athlete [part]: the rec center, the walkways … the quad, which is kind of part of the Fly Together too,” Blossom said. “So, I think the best part about what we’re doing here at Creighton is we’re just taking care of everybody and everybody’s important. … The student-athlete part is just a component of the Fly Together initiative, and as they’ll see as we have more groundbreakings and more reveals, the quality of the buildings that we’re building for them [all students] is going to be on par, if not better. … I think they have that to look forward to.”
The Sports Performance Center will be located at 20th and Burt Streets, just west of the Ruth Scott Training Center. It is one of Fly Together’s first projects.