A: Launched by $8 million of Nike money in 1998, the Ducks opened their 117,000-square football indoor facility, the Moshofsky Center — the first such indoor facility in the Pac-12. It happened when ex-Ducks coach Mike Bellotti told Nike czar Phil Knight it was difficult to get top California prospects to practice in Oregon’s seemingly endless drizzle.
It became a college football success story with few equals. The Ducks have been ranked in the AP Top 25 for 20 consecutive seasons. Arizona, which had a superior football program to Oregon in 1998, has only been ranked in eight of those 20 years.
Now, 20 years later, Arizona is building a $16 million Indoor Sports Center essentially to get out of the heat. Bingo! What took so long? The shell of the building, which is due for completion in January, is mighty impressive.
The man in the middle of both projects has been Arizona athletic director Dave Heeke, who in 1998 was the No. 2 man in Oregon’s athletic department.
But Arizona’s indoor center will be 45,000 square feet, not even half of Oregon’s Moshofsky Center, which can hold up to 3,000 people for sit-down dining before a Ducks home game and for other community events. The Ducks have estimated revenues of close to $900,000 a year from such gatherings.