UM dome should be set next week

The University of Maine baseball and softball teams should be back in the Mahaney Dome next week as the dome, which collapsed in bad weather last weekend, is back up and repairs are well under way.

Repairs on the air-supported dome, which sustained a tear last Saturday as heavy snow and rain fell in the area, began Wednesday.

The dome, which was completed 14 months ago, has an inner layer and an outer layer, both of which were damaged. There was a vertical tear 16-20 feet long near the southwest door of the facility.

The outer layer was repaired and the dome reinflated Wednesday, said UMaine associate athletic director for internal affairs Will Biberstein, and repairs on the inner layer began Thursday. The school, which has insurance on the facility, has to replace some permanent light fixtures and emergency lights that were lost in the collapse.

Whether the fixes are temporary or permanent is still being assessed, Biberstein said.

The facility will be usable again by the end of next week at the latest, he added.

Both Black Bear teams practiced this week in the school’s field house.

Yeadon Fabric Structures Ltd., the Canadian company that manufactured the dome, has been in Orono this week assisting with the repairs.

The Mahaney Dome is a 38,000 square foot facility which houses an indoor artificial grass surface. Besides the baseball and softball teams, the dome is also used by the soccer and football teams as well as campus recreation programs.

“We’ve learned a great deal from this,” Biberstein said. “There are some things we can do to prevent this, but it’s a situation of whether it’s 100 percent preventable. We’re aware of the precautions we can take.”