The historic 1,000-year flooding that decimated parts of Milwaukee in early August — dropping over one foot of rain, submerging cars on streets and flooding basements — also damaged part of Marquette’s campus.
Specifically, Valley Fields.
Located next to the river in the Menomonee River Valley, the home of the university’s soccer, lacrosse and track & field programs received enough rain to damage and shut down the complex’s pavilion building. In it are dressing rooms for both soccer programs, an officials’ and coaches’ locker room, a training room and spectator restrooms.
In the meantime, all teams have used the locker rooms under the main grandstand, a Marquette athletics spokesperson confirmed in an email, adding the pavilion will “more than likely be closed through the soccer seasons, but we aren’t sure yet.”
It’s unclear if anything else was damaged, how long renovation will take or how much it will cost. The Wire is working on scheduling interviews with university employees to learn more.
Built in 2011, the Klein Family/KBS Soccer Pavilion had a total budgeted cost of $1.2 million.
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at jack.albright@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.