2016 to be Hughes Stadium’s swan song
As CSU's new on-campus stadium rises from the ground, the countdown for the final Rams game at Hughes Stadium continues.
Barring construction complications, that will happen in November 2016.
Hughes Stadium has been the home of Colorado State University football since a Sept. 28, 1968, loss to then-North Texas State, which featured future NFL Hall of Fame defensive tackle “Mean” Joe Greene.
For Hughes' final season, the Rams have nonconference home games scheduled Sept. 10 against Texas-San Antonio and Sept. 17 against Northern Colorado. The Mountain West Conference will determine the rest of the schedule in early 2016, with Fresno State, New Mexico, Utah State and Wyoming slated to make trips to Fort Collins.
The 32,500-seat stadium is located about 2 miles west of CSU’s main campus at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. While the stadium’s post-football future remains uncertain, CSU President Tony Frank recently said leaving it dormant doesn’t make financial sense.
He said it was unlikely that CSU would give the land away, nor was it likely that CSU would attempt to maximize its financial return by developing a high-density project on Hughes land.
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Meanwhile, the new stadium is expected to be completed in time for the 2017 football season.
Earlier this month, CSU Executive Vice Chancellor Amy Parsons told the CSU Board of Governors that the project is on schedule and within budget.
The date and opponent for the first game at the new facility is still undetermined, but Sept. 9, 2017 — currently an open date on the CSU schedule — looks likely. Savannah State is a potential opponent — the Tigers will play at CSU in either 2017 or 2018.
By March 2016, steel structures and support beams are expected to begin being attached to concrete columns with “raker” beams that will support the seating areas rising up on both the east and west sides of the stadium.
In May, it’s expected that cranes will place sections of treads and risers that will make up the stadium seating areas on top of the raker beams as the facility begins to start looking like a stadium.
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Come July, walls, windows and doors are expected to be constructed within the stadium, as concession areas, restrooms, locker rooms, luxury boxes and offices spaces are built.
The superstructure is expected to be completed in November.
And, in December 2016, metal and glass panels and stonework that will make up the exterior of the facility are scheduled to be attached.
All but the finishing touches of the $220 million stadium are scheduled to be done by June 2017.
TIMELINE: Construction timeline for new stadium