UM unveils plan for indoor football facility, $14M pledge by Soffer family

ESPN by Mike Seemuth

The University of Miami on Friday announced plans to build an indoor football practice facility at a cost of $34 million and a Soffer family donation covering about 40 percent of the cost, the largest ever pledged to the UM athletic department.

Billionaire developer Jeffrey Soffer and his family pledged to donate $14 million to the indoor football facility development, which will be named after his mother Carol Soffer. Jeffrey Soffer and his sister Jackie lead Aventura-based real estate development firm Turnberry Associates.

The Carol Soffer Football Indoor Practice Facility will have an 81,800-square-foot practice field and a 20,000-square-foot, mezzanine-level football operations center with offices for coaches, a team meeting room and recruiting suite.

UM launched a private fundraising campaign for the indoor football facility in May, and donors so far have pledged $24 million to fund construction, including the Soffer family’s pledge. The groundbreaking would happen once pledged donations cover the entire $34 million cost of the facility.

Construction is expected to take at least 14 months, and UM hopes to open the indoor football facility in the summer of 2018. It would be the biggest capital project by the UM athletic department since the BankUnited Center, built at a cost of $48 million, opened in 2003.

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