Concordia-Moorhead plans a $5 million upgrade of its Jake Christiansen Athletic Complex that includes resurfacing its football and baseball fields, lighting the football stadium, and opening new locker rooms.

The “Update the Jake” project, which will be funded by private donations, already has attracted $1.2 million in pledges.

Athletics Director Larry Papenfuss said the project will help accommodate the growing number of students participating in athletics, which has more than doubled during the past decade at the college.

The Jake currently hosts more than 80 events annually at the complex that are attended by an estimated 30,000 fans.

The project includes installing artificial turf on the football field and baseball diamond, constructing new locker rooms for football and women’s soccer, additional upgrades for the soccer and baseball facilities, and improved access to and parking for the complex.

The new locker room will relieve overuse of the current football locker room, which was built in 1966 for a 90-player squad. Concordia now has more than 130 student-athletes playing football, and that building also accommodates the visiting team and officials.

Concordia’s men’s soccer team will inherit the existing locker room, and the men’s and women’s programs, which were added as varsity sports in the 1980s and previously have dressed in Memorial Auditorium, now will separate dressing facilities in the complex.

Installation of the artificial surface will enable the college to accommodate an expanded intramurals schedule and usage by high school teams, as well as possible postseason competition.