Nike Chief’s Gifts to U. of Oregon Set High Bar for College Sports Spending

The cost, design, and state-of-the-art amenities at a palatial football complex that Phil Knight, the founder of Nike and a major philanthropist, is building for the University of Oregon are examined by The Register-Guard of Eugene, Ore.

The $68-million complex, set to open next year, is the latest project in a Knight-backed athletics building boom at the Eugene campus and is entirely in the hands of the Nike boss, whose own architects and project managers are in charge of the development. Mr. Knight will donate the facility to the university when it is done, under a contract that sets mandates on how the school staffs and runs it.

The university said the complex will be fully funded by the athletic department, but critics of Oregon’s sports spending cite other Knight-funded athletics facilities for which the school ended up on the hook for millions of dollars in staff and management costs.

Peter Likins, a former University of Arizona president and an expert on collegiate sports spending, said the Oregon project is likely to spark a round of major athletics construction at other Pac-12 conference institutions. He said the Knight gift is “a deal everybody should be hungry for” but cautioned that a rapid ramp-up of sports spending creates a risk of sucking money out of schools’ general funds.