KU’s new volleyball arena to be constructed after 2018 season

Construction of the University of Kansas’ new 3,000-seat Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena will begin at the conclusion of the 2018 volleyball season rather than now, KU officials said Tuesday.

“We discussed doing it at the end of this season. What we decided based on the what the architects were telling us and based on their advice, we will build it after next season. The reason is we want to make it the absolute best volleyball arena we can make it for the program and don’t want to rush it. We want to make sure to do it the right way, do it the best way. We want to build the best arena we can for this program,” KU associate athletic director Jim Marchiony said Tuesday.

“Everybody involved thought this was best, including the architects, to spend this year designing and planning. That’s what we will do.”

It was announced earlier in the school year that Stewart Horejsi, a long-time KU benefactor, pledged $10 million for the new arena, which will be located in the same spot as the current Horejsi Family Athletics Center. The current arena seats 1,300 for home volleyball matches. Originally it was announced the arena construction would begin immediately following the 2017 season.

“Part of the construction for volleyball is going to tie into Allen Fieldhouse and we wanted to do that in the right way, and so we thought using the year to plan would be the best way to go,” Marchiony said. “Part of the plan is to connect the hospitality areas in Horejsi and Allen Fieldhouse.”

This story was originally published December 19, 2017 at 2:58 PM with the headline "KU’s new volleyball arena to be constructed after 2018 season."