With LSU’s home opener pushed back three weeks because of Hurricane Katrina, construction on seats in Tiger Stadium will be completed for the first home game, Associate Athletic Director Herb Vincent, said.
Initially set to open Sept. 3 for LSU’s opener against North Texas before being fully repaired, the west upper deck will now feature all the completed seats, as well as more restrooms and concessions.
“We anticipate that all the seats will be available,” Vincent said. “Initially, there would have been 1,500 to 2,000 seats not available for North Texas and Arizona State. But we plan on having all those installed by the Tennessee game.”
Six elevators will be ready for LSU’s home opener with Tennessee Sept. 24. Only four were set to be complete for North Texas.
Some areas are still under construction, especially in the North endzone Vincent said.
“They’re still working on a north endzone restroom and north endzone concession,” Vincent said.
As for the condition of the construction site following the hurricane, Vincent said the site came out relatively unharmed.
“The storm itself did not effect the construction,” Vincent said. “But the fact that we had a hurricane shut the operation down for two days. The big impact came from the fact that the sub-contractors could not come back to work. Currently, there are still some sub-contractors working on lesser crews.”
Completion of the stadium still includes finishing carpeting in the club areas, finishing touches in restrooms and paint on the walls, Vincent said. A west-side window overlooking the Mississippi River will also not be finished until the end of the 2005 season.
“We anticipate late February or early March for everything to be finished,” Vincent said.
Contact Jeff Sentell at [email protected]
Stadium to be ready for home game
September 7, 2005