Oregon Opens Ridiculous $19 Million Performance Center

TMZ – The University of Oregon just officially opened up its brand new $19 MILLION state-of-the-art Marcus Mariota Sports Performance Center … and it’s AWESOME!!!!

We’re talkin’ 30,000 square feet of futuristic top-of-the-line sports technology … primarily funded by Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny.

You gotta check out the video … it looks like something out of a sci-fi movie — especially the special resting area … complete with 5 “sleep pods” where athletes can rest between practices or meetings or maybe even classes??

There’s a motion capture camera area to analyze movements … a boxing ring … even the laundry area has been upgraded to allow staff to wash 500 POUNDS of laundry at one time.

There’s also a shrine to Mariota in the front of the center — complete with a video screen that will continuously run highlights of the 2014 Heisman winner.

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I’ll be honest, nothing makes the pay-for-play argument tougher than when schools open up $19 MILLION DOLLAR TRAINING FACILITIES.

Don’t get this confused with the $68 million, 145,000 foot Performance Center also funded by Phil Knight though.

This is just the $19 million, 30,000 foot Performance Center.

It’s for “student wellness.””

“The goal of this project was to create one space where we could utilize the most state-of-the-art technology to improve student-athlete wellness and emphasize our commitment to the health and safety of our student-athletes,” Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens said in a release. “Thanks to the incredible generosity of Phil and Penny Knight, we now have a world-class facility that is going to take the student-athlete experience at the University of Oregon to a level not previously seen anywhere on the collegiate level.”

That championship ring coming any season now.