William & Mary athletic facilities get transformational boost from LA Dodgers, Chelsea FC part owner

If Todd Boehly felt the jet lag of flying from London, where he saw his new $3.09 billion acquisition, the Chelsea FC soccer club, in action on Saturday, it didn’t show.

Boehly returned to his alma mater, William & Mary, on Monday, enthusiastically touting a more modest, but significant investment in Tribe athletics. He and wife, Katie Boehly, along with fraternity brother Scott Mackesy and his wife, Jen Mackesy, have donated the majority of the more than $40 million raised for the $67 million renovation of Kaplan Arena and construction of a new athletic training facility.

Groundbreaking for the 36,000-square-foot Mackesy Sports Performance Center was held Monday. “The Mack,” located on the grounds of Kaplan, where Tribe basketball and volleyball contests are played, will include a sports medicine area, strength and conditioning spaces that will benefit all 23 Tribe sports and full-sized practice court.

Renovated locker rooms and light renovations in Kaplan will also be part of Phase 1 of the project, along with a new videoboard and lighting for the arena. Seating and fan amenities in Kaplan will be expanded as part of Phase 2, while the entry lobby and building façade are among 131,000 square feet of renovations.

Tribe director of athletics Brian Mann said Monday that he expects both phases to be completed by late-December 2024. Boehly, a former W&M wrestler who is also part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Lakers, hopes the improvements will lead to more wins and championships for the Tribe.

“Having been here and played athletics, to the extent that we had better resources, we would’ve been better,” said Boehly, who acquired Chelsea last week along with Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter, Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss and investment firm Clearlake Capital. “Scott and and I just want to provide those resources, or at least start on the path of providing them and position this, as Scott says, to succeed.

“We do want to win, we care a lot about winning and it is an attitude. When you start to accept not winning is OK, everything else kind of falls apart.”

Scott Mackesy, a former Tribe tennis player, said, “For me, this is about the pursuit of excellence and it’s a commitment to winning. We want to win, period.

“Winning to me is an attitude and it’s about assets, which hopefully this addresses. It’s about coaches, it’s about players, it’s about recruiting — the whole process.

“We hope this kick-starts a future generation and a real commitment to winning in this institution because we deserve it.”

Mackesy took part in a second groundbreaking for the project: renovation of the tennis courts ahead of the Tribe’s hosting role for the 2023 Colonial Athletic Association championships. The ceremony came just two days after the CAA champion women’s tennis team participated in the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s been a really exciting two weeks for us,” said Tribe junior Elisa Van Meeteren. “We’re really thankful to the donors to have something exciting to come back to next year as well.

“Hopefully, we’ll bring [the CAA title] home again next year on our home court.”

Dane Fischer, the Tribe men’s basketball coach, and women’s coach Erin Dickerson Davis spoke about the benefit the facility upgrades are having on the recruiting trail. With floor space a continual problem in Kaplan, current players like women’s center Kayla Beckwith can hardly wait for the new practice floor.

“This starts the day that William & Mary takes its first steps into being an institution that not only has prestigious academics, but exceptional athletics,” Beckwith said. “The thought to have a practice arena with a new full-sized court, a new sports medicine facility and new strength and conditioning space is a dream come true.”

It’s a dream the Mackesys and Boehlys are helping make possible.

“I’m thankful to be associated with people who swim in those waters,” Mann said of their financial commitment to the program. “I think it says a lot about their commitment to William & Mary athletics and their belief that more resources will mean greater wins and more championships.”