ASU

Sun Devil Stadium first construction phase nearing completion

Doug Haller
azcentral sports
Construction work continues on the south end zone at Sun Devil Stadium on July 14, 2015.

This story was originally published on July 14, 2015.

Arizona State can't afford to run late on the first phase of Sun Devil Stadium reconstruction. After all, the Sun Devils have a season to play.

Throughout the reconstruction -- a $256 million project that's supposed to wrap up before the 2017 season -- ASU will play in its aging facility.

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For now, everything is on course.

"Boys, when you're doing stadium construction, you got a hard stop because we have a soft opening for 64,000-plus people on Sept. 12 and there's no alternative but to be done,'' Isaac Manning, a Sun Devil Stadium project representative, said Tuesday morning during a media tour of the stadium.

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Playing this season in a partially built stadium doesn't bother coach Todd Graham, who is 12-2 at home the past two years. It also shouldn't bother students, who will have a new home, along with two new bathrooms and concession stands nearby.

The stadium's first phase -- the South end-zone project -- addressed the students first. They will be seated in the lower level in both end zones, approximately 6,500 seats in each section. The ASU marching band will be seated in the north end.

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"This will be an incredibly intimidating place to play if you're in the red zone,'' Manning said.

Since February, construction crews have worked 24 hours a day Monday through Friday and for a shorter period on Saturdays. That will continue through the final day of work, scheduled for Sept. 1. Throughout the first-phase construction, ASU has continued to have events in Sun Devil Stadium. In April, the Sun Devils held their spring football game there, using a shortened field. Later that month, they hosted Pat's Run.

Among the final tasks: Replacing the sod that was removed for construction. ASU's first home game -- against lower-division Cal Poly -- kicks off Sept. 12.

"There are always challenges when you're working on a project like this, and you're working around an existing facility and a facility that has been remodeled numerous times.'' said Scott Owens, Hunt Construction project manager. " ... But we're in a solid position."

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Manning said fans should be patient.

"One of the things that we really need to let the fans know is this is really the beginning -- not the end -- of this process,'' he said. "Ultimately, the students will come in from the southeast and southwest, and it will be kind of their home. This year, because of the way we're re-doing the stadium going from west back to east, over the next two years how you enter the stadium will change dramatically. How this all works will be very, very different.

"It's like anything you do in phases. It's going to be complicated in the early days in terms of just people who have been coming here for a generation or two, finding their way back into the stadium. We're doing a lot of up-front information, trying to get fans briefed on where everything is."

The second construction phase is scheduled to start about a week after ASU plays its final home game, Nov. 21 against rival Arizona. The capacity for this season's stadium still is not exactly known. By the end of the project, ASU not only will have a rebuilt stadium, but also an 85,000-square foot student-athlete training facility located on the stadium's north end. Eventually, ASU's practice facility -- the Verde Dickey Dome -- will be moved to that area as well.

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