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Friday, September 17, 1999
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Robinson says revised stadium will 'wow' fans
Although a few niceties remain unfinished, the site is ready for UNLV's home opener.
By Mark Anderson
Review-Journal
The unveiling of the new Sam Boyd Stadium is only a day away.
And while the suite holders who dropped $45,000 might not be overly ecstatic with some of the improvements that still need to be done, the typical UNLV football fan should be quite impressed with the $18 million upgrade.
Fans walking into the stadium immediately will be struck by the red seats enveloping the lush green of the new natural grass.
"I think you're going to walk out there and say, `Wow,' " UNLV coach John Robinson said at Monday's boosters luncheon.
"In the old days, you said, `Wow,' but it had a different connotation. We're in a different environment. We're in something I think we all should be proud of."
Sam Boyd undergoes its first public display at 7 p.m. Saturday when UNLV plays Iowa State. It will be Robinson's home debut.
On Thursday, the field was receiving some finishing touches. The 520-square-foot scoreboard also was in place, with the video portion being worked on.
Only fans who don't sit in a suite or club seat should notice any work left undone.
"There are just heroes all through this that have just taken this on personally," stadium director Pat Christenson said.
"When you look back, this was one heck of a fast schedule we've tried to meet. A.F. (Construction) worked with us."
A.F. Construction should have worked hard to complete the work. That company's lawsuit against the state university system over the bidding process was a large reason for the construction delay.
Without the lawsuit, instead of workers racing against the clock to bring together all the necessary ingredients, the stadium might have been completed by now.
Construction crews remain on around-the-clock assignment.
Plenty of work appears necessary to finish the suites and club seats.
All 16 suites have been sold, and a late surge has brought club-seat sales to about 300 of the 488 total. Christenson said he hopes another 100 club seats, priced at $2,000 and $3,500, will be gone by the end of the season.
Temporary seats will be put in the suites and club seats, and permanent seating for the club seats is expected to be in place next week. Carpeting also probably will be missing, but the essential components should be in place, and Christenson said all should be complete by the Oct. 23 home game against Brigham Young.
The same applies to the game-operations portion of Airway Tower, which houses the suites, club seats and press box.
Even though the work is not complete on the eve of the season, Christenson said he is almost completely satisfied with where construction is.
"I would've liked to have had the parking lot paved in the west, but the fact is with all the equipment being there, it couldn't get done," Christenson said.
"That was the only thing I wanted to get done that we didn't for the first game.
"I'm still going to try to shoot for Oct. 23. If you notice up there, they're confining their yard now to the northwest corner. They're taking and paving the southwest lot first and then some of the back of the west lot."
Inside the stadium, the concourse was widened from 18 to 42 feet, making getting around the facility much easier.
The bathrooms have almost doubled in size, going from 100 to 190 toilets.
There will be a limited menu at the Gordon Biersch concession stands for the first two games. A full offering will be made available starting with the BYU game.
For the Iowa State game, about 50 to 60 police will patrol the stadium. The number will be on a game-by-game basis, with two officers for every 1,000 spectators. Last season, it was one officer for about every 750.
Also, extra seating has been put into what were aisles to restrict walking around the stadium.
"What would happen is we'd be losing bad, we'd have no reason for people to watch the game," Christenson said.
"Typically, that's when problems happen. People can't roam around in the stands.
"The message in the first couple of games is if you are drinking, drunk, getting in a fight or anything, you're not only arrested, you're ejected for the rest of the season. We are taking a very strong stance on that. There is no reason for the rest of our fans to have to tolerate drunks."
COMING UP:
Iowa State
-- When: 7 p.m. Saturday
-- Where: Sam Boyd Stadium
-- Records: UNLV is 2-0; Iowa State is 2-0
-- TV: None
-- Radio: KBAD-AM (920)
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Printable version of this story
Dan Garde, a worker for Commercial Roofers, seals a section of roof Wednesday under the upgraded scoreboard at Sam Boyd Stadium.
Photo by K.M. Cannon.
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