by Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

Work continues on Claremont McKenna College’s Roberts Campus Sports Bowl, the new 50,000-square-foot outdoor sports complex at the 74-acre former quarry just east of Claremont Boulevard, with phase one completion expected in the fall.

“You can see that work is progressing,” said Alex Boekelheide, associate vice president of strategic communications and marketing at CMC. “There was some rain earlier this year. The weather was definitely a factor, but now we are working hard to get the structure for the parking garage put together on the west side of the space and things are going well, it’s running very smoothly.”

The project is being built in two phases:

Phase one will develop about 35 acres along the southern edge of the project — 23 in Upland and 12 in Claremont. It includes a two-level, partially subterranean parking structure and surface lot, fencing along the project, baseball, softball, football, track and field, and lacrosse facilities, a practice area for golf programs, and support structures such as bleachers and lighting. This phase will also see a new traffic signal at Ninth Street and Claremont Boulevard, and street and pedestrian traffic improvements along adjacent streets, including Foothill and Claremont boulevards, Monte Vista Avenue, and Arrow Route. It will also include a pedestrian walking tunnel beneath Claremont Boulevard known as “the arcade.”

A rendering of the first phase of Claremont McKenna College’s Roberts Campus Sports Bowl. Photo/courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

“The arcade as we call it is basically a subterranean walkway that’s sub-ground level so that students and faculty and folks can walk from the main Claremont McKenna College campus, kind of right there by the Roberts Day Science Center, underneath Claremont Boulevard and connect to the sports bowl area,” Boekelheide said. “That’s a way for us to just kind of help ease pedestrian flows and make it so there’s a little bit more connectivity.”

Phase two will include soccer and practice fields, Boekelheide said. However, development plans have not been brought before the respective Claremont and Upland commissions. “We do not have a timetable for Phase Two,” Boekelheide wrote in an email.

Commuters will be happy to know that the 600 block of Claremont Boulevard between Foothill Boulevard and Sixth Street, is due to reopen later this summer according to Boekelheide. It has been closed since November 2025.

“The approved road closure plan shows the roadway will reopen in mid-August 2026,” wrote Claremont Planner Chris Veirs in an email. “This is based on Claremont McKenna’s best estimate of the time needed to complete the improvements necessary to reopen the road and may be subject to revision should there be any significant delays.”

Orange County based KPRS Construction Services Inc., the same firm currently at work on Claremont Police Department’s new women’s locker room, is the contractor. The project was designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, which also designed the adjacent Robert Day Science Center.

The project straddles Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, with about 44 acres in Upland, 30 in Claremont.

Claremont’s Architectural and Preservation Commission approved the first phase last June.

Boekelheide declined to state the project’s cost or its funding source. Helena Paulin, CMC’s executive director of strategic communications and marketing, told the Courier in 2025 that the college was able to relocate many of its athletic fields to the space through a $140 million gift from CMC alumni and board trustee George Roberts.

The new sports bowl will include athletic facilities and venues for many Claremont-Mudd-Scripps athletic programs and clubs currently utilizing the Axelrood Aquatics Center, Burns Stadium, Zinda Field, Pritzlaff Field, the Biszantz Family Tennis Center, and a hammer throw area just east of the tennis courts.

Naming opportunities for the project’s various structures and facilities are still being accepted. Pricing and information are at cmc.edu, search “Roberts Campus Sports Bowl.”