Seventy-five workers – give or take a few – representing a dozen or so trades are clocking in at the new Wildcat Stadium daily as spring begins and the facility nears its opening this summer.

The glass guys have been busy lately, putting windows along the front of the building in suites, the press box, coaches' boxes and the Service Credit Union Victory Club.

The stands and seats won't be far behind.

The UNH football team breaks in Wildcat Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 10 with a game against New England rival Holy Cross. Information on the Victory Club and purchasing season tickets may be found by calling 603-862-4000.

The Wildcats begin spring practice on Tuesday, April 5 and will play their annual Blue-White scrimmage Saturday, May 7, as the final football event at Cowell Stadium. Attendance is free. For more information on the UNH football program, visit www.unhwildcats.com.

The stadium seating contractor will start to mobilize on the construction site next week and begin unloading product, said Eric Price, construction superintendent for stadium contractor PC Construction.

"They'll start by putting planking down and then bolt in the seats," Price said. "We'll see things start to take shape the latter part of April."

Permanent power was connected to the building a couple of weeks ago.

"They're also starting to do some finish work, finishing ceilings and floors and painting." Price said.

Workers installed tile on the kitchen floor on the second level of the stadium on Tuesday.

"Food service equipment is due to show up in the middle of April and we'll start hooking it up," Price said.

The pedestrian bridge to the facility at the scoreboard end of the stadium is basically done, but for final grading.

The ticket/entrance plaza at the same end of the stadium was on hold while designs for it were finalized.

The plans needed adjustment for a good reason: a 30-foot by 50-foot video board has been added to the project and is being incorporated into the final design.

Five regular season games are scheduled for the new stadium, including the opener against Holy Cross. The other home games are Oct. 1 against William & Mary (Homecoming), Oct. 15 against James Madison (Family Weekend), Oct. 29 against Stony Brook and Nov. 12 against Albany.

The Wildcats will be looking to extend their best-in-the-nation streak of FCS tournament appearances to 13 straight years in the fall.
Each of the past two seasons UNH has played FCS tournament games at home. Last year, the Wildcats dropped a 27-20 decision to Colgate in the first round of the tournament.

In 2014, UNH beat Fordham, 44-19, in the FCS second round and Tennessee-Chattanooga, 35-30, in the quarterfinals before falling to Illinois State, 21-18, in the semifinals.

UNH begins spring practice on Tuesday, April 5 and it runs through the annual Blue-White game on Saturday May 7 at noon.

The 2016 season opens with a game at San Diego State, an FBS school, on Sept. 3. Other road games in 2016 are Sept. 17 at Dartmouth, Sept. 24 at Rhode Island, Oct. 8 at Elon, Oct. 22 at Towson and Nov. 19 at Maine.

 

Source : citizen.com

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