In August of 2019, Mizzou Football's players reported for the first day of fall training camp and they did so in the brand-new South End Zone Facility, that had been in the works for nearly two years after being approved in August of 2017.
Players began to file in during the morning hours, but the bulk of the team arrived to the brand-new, $98 million facility in the afternoon in advance of the team meetings to officially kick off fall camp. The Tigers' arrived to a new football operations area, which included team and staff locker rooms, an enhanced sports medicine facility featuring a Hydrotherapy area with recovery pools, Hyroworx and lap pools, a weight room twice the size of the one at MATC, nutrition oasis and equipment room, as well as team and position meeting rooms, and coaches' offices.
Player reaction was as expected – awe and excitement – as they entered all of the team areas after months of anticipation.
Also in the building are 16 suites, a 750-person field-level club similar to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, a 1,254-seat indoor club area with food service and restrooms and general seating for 1,324 approximately fans. A new concourse now links the stadium's East and West stadium areas, and provides new restrooms and concessions for all fans to enjoy. A full kitchen will also be constructed in the facility to service the new premium areas, and new video boards will further enhance the Mizzou game-day experience.
Other features of the new facility include a roof-top video deck and two-bay loading dock. A new road connecting the west side to the south will also be built.
The football program, which had been housed at the Missouri Athletics Training Center (MATC) since the 1980s and out-grown that building, has moved its entire operation to the south end zone facility, which in turn allows for that space to be repurposed to better serve the needs of all Mizzou student-athletes and athletics staff. In addition to currently housing Mizzou's entire football operation, the MATC is also home to the department's student-athlete academic support unit, primary weight room and dining facility, as well as offices and locker rooms for the Tigers' highly-successful women's soccer, softball and track & field programs.
