Notre Dame unveils plans for new state-of-the-art facility

Notre Dame announced Saturday that it has received support for a new Fighting Irish football facility.

The new facility, which is set to open in the fall of 2026, will also allow for future renovations of the Guglielmino Athletics Complex, or the “Gug.” Together, the new changes should help modernize Notre Dame’s athletics facilities, bringing them more in line with industry peers.

The group supporting the project consists of football student-athletes led by former linebacker Jack Shields. Former safety Pat Eilers and former linebacker Dave Butler are also contributors to the project.

The facility will check in at 150,000 square feet, a nearly 50% increase in space over the Gug.

It will include dozens of amenities, from an advanced training room, to a stand-alone sports medicine facility, to an equipment facility with body scanning and fabrication technology, to a new and expanded locker room, to meeting rooms that include a two-level, all-team auditorium and augmented reality walkthrough room, to media innovation spaces including recording and photo studios, to academic support spaces, to a new player nutrition area.

In short, Notre Dame should have the best of the best in facilities by the time the project is completed.

“I could not be more humbled by the gifts from Jack and Kathy Shields and others, which will ensure our student-athletes and staff have the tools to be successful on the field, in the classroom and in life,” athletics director Pete Bevacqua said in a press release.

“This building will be yet another testament to the support of our football program, solidifying that we have the top gameday facility (Notre Dame Stadium), a best-in-class indoor facility (Irish Athletics Center) and now a brand-new operations center (Jack and Kathy Shields Family Hall). Furthermore, this undertaking allows us to continue our effort to be the most advanced sports performance unit in college athletics with an addition of over 80,000 square feet dedicated to the success of our student-athletes through the renovation of the Gug.”

That the project is also being spear-headed by former players is another point of pride for the Notre Dame program.

“The idea of former student-athletes investing in the future of Notre Dame football is a strong sign of the vitality of the program,” Bevacqua said.