Tuskegee University has partnered with the National Football League to design an innovative fictional football stadium. This is the first partnership of its kind between the NFL and construction science students.

The Robert R. Taylor School of Architecture and Construction Science students will receive real world experience and explore future career opportunities with the NFL.

Walter P. Cooper Sr., Director of the Career Development Center said, “[Students] will see the connections between engaging students at the collegiate level and allowing them to explore future career opportunities with the NFL.”

According to a press release from the university, Arthur McAfee III, VP of Football Operations at the NFL, said the project developed from conversations with Hall of Famers about their experiences as student athletes. “With football, comes student athletes, the band and players,” he said, per the release. “What’s a better way to continue to highlight on the field activities, than off the field? We have several initiatives where we introduce career opportunities.”

The league said this is a multi-disciplinary initiative that creates opportunities for students across multiple schools. McAfee added that, once a year, the NFL addresses one issue by working with three to four institutions to help answer that question.

In this particular partnership, Tuskegee students will design a mock stadium that would be placed in Birmingham, that focuses on stadium design, fan experience, player experience, engineering, and a business pitch to sell the project. McAfee said Birmingham was an easy choice for this project since the city doesn’t currently have an NFL team.

Tuskegee University President Charlotte P. Morris said, “I am proud to know that our programs continue to garner the respect and attention of organizations like the NFL in ways that our students see a direct benefit.”

McAfee noted that in order to support this program they wanted to work with HBCUs first.

In 2022, the NFL announced the Diversity Advisory Committee to address the league’s overall diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and procedures. Since then, the league has worked to improve these efforts in several categories like data collection, networking, programming and development.