Agree that this seems like a tiny ‘arena’ at a Flagship university. U of Wyoming is a similar size to Vermont and it has a basketball arena that seats 11,600. They also use it for graduation and other convention type events. Yes, it is the biggest arena in Wyo.
Soccer is usually played outdoors, including at UVM. Google says:
Amenities: Features a state-of-the-art synthetic turf surface, permanent grandstand seating for approximately 2,600 spectators, and a climate-controlled press box.
One high school my kids went to had a sports complex. It had a big arena with 2500 seats, 4 baseball/softball diamonds, a football field and track,. soccer fields, and a $1 million putting and chipping area (donated by a parent). It had a $10 million pool (outdoor) with permanent cement bleachers. The school made money by renting out all the facilities to local teams. It was lit so they had games going on at 2 am. I never drove by the school that those lights weren’t on, that there weren’t people in the pool, that there weren’t games on the baseball diamonds. Really, never.
Maybe UVM will make money, or maybe they need an indoor place to seat 5000 for graduations and other events. 5000 seats seems really small to me for a D1 school.