Groundbreaking Ceremony To Be Held For USC's New $70M Athletic Building

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A groundbreaking ceremony will be held Wednesday for a $70 million, 110,000-square foot building that will house meeting rooms, coaches offices and a locker room for USC's football team.

The John McKay Center will also include a weight room, facilities for all of the university's 21 sports teams, an academic center, and digital media production facility.

Construction for the two-story building is expected to take 18 months, according to athletic director Pat Haden.

"Once this facility is completed, our physical infrastructure will be among the finest of any athletic department in the nation," Haden said in October when plans for the building were announced.

The John McKay Center will be directly west of Heritage Hall, the athletic department's headquarters. The field will be relocated just south of its current spot, between the John McKay Center and the Locker Track Stadium.

Heritage Hall will remain in use and "always be the central point of our athletic department," Haden said.

"The reality is that we have outgrown Heritage Hall and we are badly undersized and overcrowded in there," Haden said.

"This new building will be the finest of its kind anywhere and will provide our student-athletes every opportunity to succeed academically and athletically."

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