MURFRESBORO, Tenn. — Deputy Athletics Director Lee De León discusses how it’s a great time to be a Blue Raider in the June edition of “Out of the Blue,” Middle Tennessee State University’s television magazine show.
In an interview with program host Andrew Oppmann, MTSU vice president for marketing and communications, De León talks about the Build Blue Campaign for the Student Athlete Performance Center, the start of the 2024 Blue Raiders football season for new coach Derek Mason and more.
“We’re really moving forward. Everything’s on time and on budget,” De León said of the Student Athlete Performance Center construction, which had a topping out ceremony June 11 and scheduled for completion in July 2025. “To see it come to life and have the beams go up, it’s been unbelievably exciting.”
You can watch the segment here:
“The $66 million, 85,000-square-foot facility will feature a new weight room, training room and nutrition center for all student-athletes, and the rest of the building primarily focused on football (locker room, equipment room, coaches’ offices, meeting room and team auditorium),” De León said, adding the third floor includes the SRM Concrete Club, space that can be utilized year-round for special events.
Located on the north end of Floyd Stadium, the new building will eventually lead to renovation and repurposing of space inside Murphy Center, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022.
With De León noting “the weather should be great and the energy should be electric,” three of the first four football games will be in Floyd Stadium: Aug. 31 against old rival Tennessee Tech; Sept. 7 at Ole Miss; a Sept. 14 Family Weekend game against rival Western Kentucky; and Sept. 21 Homecoming Game against Duke. For more on athletics, visit https://goblueraiders.com.
De León also noted the new outsourcing partnership with Van Wagner, a collegiate sports marketing company that “really specializes in schools our size. It’s a 10-year contract and we think they are going to take our sponsorship and corporate sponsorship to the next level.”
“Out of the Blue” is available anytime on the university’s YouTube channel, the True Blue TV channel, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. It also airs on Murfreesboro cable Channel 9 daily at 6 and 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; NewsChannel5+ at 3:30 p.m. Sundays; via streaming on MTSU’s Jazz Network on WMOT HD2 and through WMOT.org at 7 a.m. on the first Sunday of each month; and on other cable outlets in Middle Tennessee, so check local listings.
It is also available as a podcast on iTunes and Google Play and as individual interview segments on Spotify at https://spoti.fi/453hxg3.
Watch previous episodes of “Out of the Blue” at https://mtsunews.com/out-of-the-blue.
— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)
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