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LOOK: Gators Online tours the Bill Heavener Football Training Center

Untitled designby: Nick de la Torre08/23/22delatorre
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Photo courtesy of UF Communications

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Bill Heavener Football Training Center is still being moved in to. There are paintings, televisions, banners, and more to be hung on the walls. The dining room won’t be full service until Wednesday, August 23, but the football team has already made its mark.

On Monday, Gators Online was given the opportunity to tour the new Heavener Center. It was a chance to see a plan that started six years ago. The facility has gone through numerous changes. If the original plan had been built, it would be a disjointed, three our four-story building, hidden in a small corner near the track and field facility. Now, it’s a sprawling 140,000-square-foot jewel that will serve as the hub of Florida Gators Athletics.

The original plan, which was to put approximately $30 million of renovations into the old McKethan Stadium and build a football facility that would cost approximately $50-60 million dollars was scrapped. Instead, Condron Ballpark was built. It’s a state-of-the-art, $65 million park that stands up to any in the country. That allowed for the demolition of the old baseball stadium and new land to open up for the Heavener Center, which came in around $85 million.

“Renovating old McKethan and putting this building over in that small area on 2nd Avenue would have probably been a 10-year fix,” Florida AD Scott Stricklin said on Monday. “Building the new Condron Ballpark and this facility right here is probably a 50-60 year fix.”

Come inside the new facility and see what daily life will now look like for the more than 500 student-athletes at the University of Florida.

A side wall adjacent to the main staircase features signage from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium that simulates the wing walls
The classic Gators script adorns a wall
A pool table in the all athletes area
A pair of underwater treadmills which will aid the football team in rehabilitation
A pair of underwater treadmills which will aid the football team in rehabilitation
The Gary Condron Dining Hall
Zero gravity massage chairs that can be used by all UF student-athletes (the football team also has four more in its locker room)
The chairs inside the Gators’ new barber shop with simulated alligator skin.
Gators script signage that adorns the wall next to the cold pool.
The new “living room” for Florida Athletics
The new Florida Gators football weight room
The new Florida Gators football weight room
An agility area in the new Florida Gators football weight room
Training tables
Gators script signage that adorns the wall next to the cold pool.
The “Florida Theatre” where the entire football team will meet daily
The “Florida Theatre” where the entire football team will meet daily
The tight end meeting room. Each position group has its own meeting rooms
The Bill Heavener Football Training Facility
The outside linebacker meeting rooms
Showers
A view from the Florida Gators lockerroom
A closer look at the individual lockers, which cost ~$15,000 each
Helmet storage for the new lockers
Second floor seating at the Gary Condron Dining Hall
The first floor hallway which takes you from the all athlete area to the football locker room
The “Gator Lounge” fitted with multiple big screen televisions, a pool table, zero gravity massage chairs, and the barber shop
The Gary Condron Dining Hall
A buffet style serving in the Gary Condron Dining Hall
The Gary Condron Dining Hall
Banners representing all of the Florida Gators conference and National Championships hang from the ceiling

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