From K-State Athletics
Kansas State Athletics Director Gene Taylor announced that the Wildcats’ new soccer facility, to begin construction in January 2019, will be named Buser Family Park in recognition of John and Ann Buser and their children. The official groundbreaking ceremony for the new facility will take place on Friday, October 12, in a halftime ceremony during the match against Texas Tech. First kick is 6 p.m.
The Kansas Board of Regents approved the naming of the facility during their monthly meeting in September. The project, led by BG Consultants, will be funded without incurring any long-term debt and without any state tax or university funds. Any outstanding construction costs above the fundraising goal will be funded through department revenues and resources.
The gift brings the private support of the Baseball-Soccer facility campaign to nearly $15 million, surpassing the original fundraising goal of $10 million set in October 2017. The support by the Buser family is the fifth seven-figure gift for the Baseball-Soccer facility campaign along with lead gifts from Bob and Betty Tointon, Paul and Sandra Edgerley, Sunderland Family Foundation and John and Kim Vanier.
Buser Family Park, which will be built on the site of the existing temporary facility, will provide comfortable chairback seating for the new 1,400 seat stadium. Included beneath the seating will be locker rooms for K-State soccer and visiting teams, a team lounge for K-State soccer, sports medicine and strength and conditioning spaces for the Wildcat team.