The Mahaney Dome is near completion and the University of Maine’s athletic teams will be stepping foot in it within the next two weeks, according to Maine interim athletic director Blake James.

It is currently being inflated and the insulation will follow.

The 38,000-square-foot facility on the university’s campus, which will be equipped with artificial grass-like FieldTurf, will first be utilized by the Black Bear baseball and softball teams when they return to campus following the break.

The first practices will be on Jan. 16.

“In-season teams will have the first priority. So for the months of January, February, March and April, it will be the baseball and softball teams,” said James. “After we meet their needs, it will be opened up to the rest of the teams for their use.”

He expects it to be operational next week.

Businessman Kevin Mahaney donated $1 million to the project to honor his father, Larry Mahaney. Larry Mahaney has been a long-time benefactor and the university’s baseball field, Mahaney Diamond, is named after him.

The Mahaney Dome ground-breaking took place on Sept. 14.

“We had hoped to have it up in December but if you look at the big picture, the important thing is we’ll have it soon,” said James.

“It’s a need we had. We needed additional indoor training space. We have space in the field house but because of how off-season training has evolved and the size of our [athletic] program, it was something we needed to address. And this will be a big help. It will get a tremendous amount of use,” added James who was grateful to Kevin and the Mahaney family for making it a reality.

The facility’s surface will be 60 yards by 60 yards and James anticipates that several of the school’s teams will use it including the football and soccer programs in addition to the baseball and softball teams.

It will also be used for off-season conditioning and training.

Former University of Maine Little All-American and Denver Broncos linebacker John Huard, who works for FieldTurf, donated $20,000 in extras for the project.