Mercer Bears - Facilities

Facilities

Mercer opened the University Center (also known as Hawkins Arena) on the Macon campus in 2004. The $40 million 230,000-square-foot (21,000 m2) center houses Mercer's athletics department, a 3,500-seat basketball arena, an indoor pool, work-out facilities, intramural basketball courts, an air-rifle range, offices, a food court, and numerous meeting facilities. Mercer's Claude Smith Field (baseball), Sikes Field (softball), and intramural fields are next to the center along with the university's tennis complex. Bear Field, the home of men's and women's soccer, is located on the eastern edge of campus between the School of Medicine and the university's newest intramural fields. In 2007, a 101-room Hilton Garden Inn opened on university-owned land adjacent to the University Center.

The University Center arena was named Hawkins Arena in April 2012. The naming honors J. B. Hawkins, former high school athletic director and basketball coach in Crawford County.

In November 2011, the university began construction of the 10,200-seat Tony and Nancy Moye Football and Lacross Complex on the Macon campus. The new facility, adjacent to Hawkins Arena and Mercer's other athletic facilities, has the following components: the Homer and Ruth Drake Field House, the William H. Anderson II Family Field, the Marshall and Jane Butler Family Plaza, and the Tony and Nancy Moye Family Football and Lacrosse Complex. Construction will be completed in 2013; the Field Turf surface was completed in July 2012, the Drake Field House opened in November 2012.

Mercer's athletic facilities are located next to Interstate 75. Large parking lots are available for visitors-spectators arriving via the Mercer University Drive exit.