The stage is set.

Just pretend for a second.

It’s the 2006 football season and Bowling Green is hosting Boise State (yes, there is a 2006 home game against the Broncos).

Senior quarterback Omar Jacobs rolls to the left and looks off wide out Brandon Jones on a short route and hits his counterpart Kenneth Brantley on a flag route in the north endzone. When the ESPN cameras zoom in on the team’s celebration, the back drop is no longer the dingy bleachers in the north endzone.

That is because in 2006, the freshly built Sebo Student-Athletic Center will be complete. The $7.5 million facility will be the most expensive privately funded building at Bowling Green State University.

The state of the art complex should provide a more pleasant backdrop than the bleachers that sit at the north side of the stadium now.

“It’s going to look a lot better,” gift officer Dick Waring said.

Since Bob and Karen Sebo donated $3.5 million to get the project moving back in October, Waring has been at work receiving donations to pay for the rest of the facility.

The way the collections are being handled is with naming opportunities. People can donate anywhere from $50,000 to $250,000 to name anything from meeting rooms to coaches’ offices to a heritage hall that will be like a BG hall of fame.

“I think we’ve come along pretty well,” Waring said. “In a sense, we’ve done phase one.”

Phase two will begin when bids are sent out to see who will be in charge of the construction for the building. The building is slated to start sometime this summer and will last for 12 to 13 months.

That means throughout the 2005 football season, construction will be going on.

While that may seem like a problem for the athletic department, athletic director Paul Krebs has been through this before. He was heavily involved at Ohio State when renovations were being made to Ohio Stadium.

His plan is simple.

“You simply have to manage a little differently,” he said.

That will be easier considering the Sebo Center will be set apart from the rest of the stadium and out of the way of the action during football games.

Upon completion, the Sebo Center will serve as a face to Doyt L. Perry Stadium. Right now, the north endzone houses the aforementioned bleachers while the south side of the stadium features the scoreboard. Neither end really gives the stadium a signature look.

“There’s no front door out there, there’s no destination,” Krebs said. “The Sebo Center gives a front door to the stadium.”

But the Sebo Center isn’t just a figure piece to make the stadium look pretty. Inside, the 42,000 square foot complex will house football coaches’ offices, a training facility and a sports medicine and rehab facility amongst other things that will help enhance the lives of student-athletes at Bowling Green.

The building will also be a welcome addition to the football team in general.

Right now, their facilities under the east stands at the stadium feature a leaky lockerroom and muggy coaches’ offices.

“Our meeting rooms right now are very inadequate,” BG head coach Gregg Brandon said. “In the summer when we meet, it’s very hot. So definitely, the Sebo Center will be a welcome addition.”

One of the most important aspects the Sebo Center will bring with it is a fresh face for the athletic community at Bowling Green. It will allow coaches to sell the facilities at BG, instead of hide them, Brandon said.

“A lot of [recruits] get caught up in the bling bling,” Brandon said. “If we have the facilities that are on par with our competitors, then we don’t have to make excuses.”