Alumni Field can be used for opener> UM staying off Mahaney

Alumni Field, not Mahaney Diamond, will be the venue for all five University of Maine football home games in Orono this fall.

Thanks to the efforts of construction crews working on the renovation of the football grandstand and bleachers, good weather, and the university’s planning, UMaine expects to have at least 1,400 seats in place for the Black Bears’ Sept. 14 home opener against Boston University.

UMaine coach Jack Cosgrove was happy to hear the news, but downplayed the development, citing the need for the Bears to concentrate on preparing for Thursday night’s season opener in Portland against Yankee Conference foe Northeastern.

“Hopefully now there’s a comfortable place for people to sit. I never had the chance to sit up there and get any of those splinters in my butt,” joked Cosgrove, who received the news Tuesday night.

Now, UMaine will still be able to play in its usual setting, with some aesthetic changes in the size and appearance of the grandstand.

“The biggest concern I had was to be playing at home and creating a home-field advantage for our program,” Cosgrove said earlier this summer.

Uncertainty about the complexity and durations of the renovations had forced UMaine officials to consider an alternate site for football games. The controversial choice was Mahaney Diamond, the baseball facility.

That decision, based on the desire to keep UMaine on campus for its home games in the event Alumni Field was not ready, drew the ire of baseball benefactor Larry Mahaney and the Friends of Maine Baseball, who feared the turf would be torn up.

UMaine athletic director Suzanne Tyler made Tuesday’s announcement, crediting the university’s commitment to the project and the workers’ diligence, with moving the project along quickly.

“We didn’t think it was going to be possible to get Alumni Field ready for September 14,” Tyler said. “We are very pleased that all of the pieces fell into place.”

The $400,000 project, which will be funded by private donations, became necessary after a routine inspection of the home-side grandstand and the visitors bleachers in March revealed numerous safety, fire code and building code deficiencies.

The steel-framed main grandstand, which was covered in lead paint, a hazardous waste, was dismantled in late July and early August. The site has been cleared and construction of a new press box is well under way.

That work will pave the way for the repositioning of two bleacher sections, one from Mahaney Diamond and the other from the South end of Alumni Field. They will accomodate up to 1,400 fans.

Installation of the new bleachers on the east (visitors) side of the field, is slated to begin the week of Sept. 9 and may not be finished in time for the first game. That unit should bring the seating capacity of Alumni Field to 4,000 for UMaine’s Sept. 21 game against Rhode Island.

“I can’t say enough to thank the facilities management team on this campus,” said Jim Dyer, UMaine’s assistant athletic director for internal operations and facilities, who lauded the efforts of Director of Institutional Planning Anita Wihry and her team.