Mackey Gets Facelift

Purdue University is moving ahead with a planned $82 million overhaul of its aging Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind.

The upgrade will reduce capacity about 800 seats to 13,300 and include the addition of practice, sports medicine, conditioning and office facilities around the 40-year-old arena’s existing shell. The interior will be mostly unchanged.

Mackey Arena is home to Purdue’s basketball teams and houses practice facilities and offices for several other teams.

University officials expect to pay for the project with revenue from new cable service the Big Ten Channel, private donations and concessions. Construction is set to begin in 2009 and be complete in time for the 2011-2012 basketball season.

Plans call to enlarge the concourse to about twice its current width, quadruple the amount of concession stands from 12 to 48 and triple the amount of women’s restrooms.