The University of Notre Dame football team has officially moved into its new operational home on campus. The new Jack and Kathy Shields Family Hall opened its doors on Friday, July 31, 2026, as the Fighting Irish football team returns to campus this weekend to begin preparations for the 2026 football season.
The new facility, coupled with the existing Guglielmino Athletics Complex, will accommodate the needs of the University’s premier athletics programs. The new space will foster team building and personal growth, improve physical conditioning and technical ability, and enable the College of Science and Notre Dame Research to partner with Athletics in the study of human performance, sports science, medicine and nutrition.
On July 6, 2026, the first step in the unveiling of the facility began when the Patrick Kramer Dining Room, which provides service to all of Notre Dame’s student-athletes, opened its doors to serve its first meals. The Notre Dame football team then experienced its new home on July 24, before breaking from their offseason schedule and returning this weekend to a fully functional facility.
The building will be blessed by the University in a private ceremony on August 7.
With support from a generous gift from Jack and Kathy Shields, the new Jack and Kathy Shields Family Hall elevates the football program’s ability to provide student-athletes with the resources needed to be successful — all while anticipating future needs as well as new and emerging technologies.
The building covers over 150,000 square feet and is located along Courtney Lane on the east side of campus, across from the Irish Athletics Center, which houses the team’s indoor practice facility, and the LaBar Practice Complex, the location of the program’s outdoor practice surfaces.
The facility includes an advanced training room; a stand-alone sports medicine facility; an equipment facility with body scanning and fabrication technology; a new and expanded locker room; meeting rooms, including a two-level, all-team auditorium and an augmented reality walkthrough room; media innovation spaces, including recording studios and photo studios; academic support spaces; and a new player nutrition area designed to foster community between teams and model healthy eating.
Jack and Kathy Shields are the parents of four children: John, William, Madeline and Fallon, a 2006 Notre Dame graduate. Jack earned his bachelor’s degree from Notre Dame in 1983 and his law degree from Catholic University in 1986. He played middle linebacker for the Notre Dame football team, appearing in the 1981 Sugar Bowl. Kathy earned her bachelor’s degree from Smith College.
Jack was the CEO of Shields Health Solutions, a specialty pharmacy accelerator, until 2021, when the company was acquired by Walgreens. Before that, he was president of Shields MRI, the largest outpatient imaging provider in New England. As an entrepreneur, he has formed four companies— in dialysis, oncology, radiology and pharmacy — over 30 years in the healthcare industry. He currently serves as the founder and chair of Shields Health Innovations.
In addition to serving on the For Good cabinet, Jack is on the Advisory Council for the Student-Athlete. He and Kathy are Friends of Ted & Ned and belong to the Badin Guild. They also have a family foundation that supports nonprofits in Massachusetts and Florida, including the Brockton Boys and Girls Clubs and BC High.
In 2019, the Shields provided initial funding for Project LAND (Life After Notre Dame), which, in addition to the University’s own 4 For Forever program, provides student-athletes across campus with the tools and resources necessary to succeed at Notre Dame and beyond.