North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: CFS expected to be 'fully functional'
8/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH – Weather-permitting, most of the finishing touches on the improvements and additions to Carter-Finley Stadium will be in place for Saturday’s sold-out football season-opener against Appalachian State.
NC State assistant athletics director for outdoor facilities Ray Brincefield said Monday that the only thing that would prevent all new features in the stadium from being ready for the 6 p.m. contest might be possible delays caused by Tropical Storm Ernesto brewing south of Florida.
“If the weather doesn’t mess us up, which we are praying won’t happen, we feel like we will be fully functional,” Brincefield said.
But the substantial portion of the renovation, which entailed replacing the existing A.E. Finley Fieldhouse with grandstands that will complete the lower bowl of the stadium, is complete. There are some 7,000 new permanent seats in the stadium, giving the 40-year-old structure a capacity approaching 60,000.
There is a new fieldhouse that includes lockerrooms for the visiting team, for the Wolfpack at halftime, game officials, cheerleaders, mascots, field crew and ball boys. There are also new training and equipment rooms, as well as a covered garage for game-day vehicles such as visiting team buses, game-officials transportation and two EMS vehicles.
There will be two new digital video boards in the south end zone, so that patrons on the opposite end will be able to see everything that is on the larger video board in the north end zone. Those are being installed this week, but that work could be delayed if there is inclement weather, Brincefield said.
The bulk of the work was done in the eight months since the Wolfpack last played at Carter-Finley, in last year’s regular-season victory over Maryland.
That doesn’t mean everything is done, since the final completion date for the entire project is slated for Oct. 5. There is a minor code interpretation that may prevent the windows in the new north end zone concession stand facing the stadium from opening for the first game. The windows facing the RBC Center, however, will be open.
Between now and the completion date, some temporary signage will be replaced by permanent versions of the same signs. The are still some lights to be installed on the existing light poles in the Curtis and Jacqueline Dail Plaza between Carter-Finley and the RBC Center.
Each of the 300-level grandstands above the Red Zone will get permanent screens around the back. And both video boards will get back covers similar to the one on the back of the existing scoreboard in the north end zone.
In addition, there are other new features besides the video boards, the grandstands and the plaza between Carter-Finley and the RBC Center.
First, the school commissioned an acoustical study of the stadium, so that the state-of-the-art sound system can be reconfigured to suit every “nook and cranny” of the stadium, Brincefield said.
“The sound survey we did before was done before the Murphy Center was build and before Vaughn Towers was built,” Brincefield said. “We have added some speakers and adjusted the angles so that everyone in the stadium should get virtually the same sound levels.”
There were speakers added that will reach patrons in the 300-level seats of the north end zone, since most of the existing sound system goes right over the top of that area of the stadium, Brincefield said.
Secondly, the permanent nets in both end zones that prevent kicked balls from going into the stands have been replaced by nets that can be raised and lowered during all extra points and field goals, preventing any obstructed views during the rest of the game.
There is a new gate for students – Gate 11, in the northeast corner of the stadium – that ups the number of possible student entrances to the stadium from three to four.
Finally, all scoreboards have been switched from bulb lighting to digital read-outs.
“It’s a much clearer, brighter image,” Brincefield said. “It’s a super upgrade fro the stadium, in my opinion. And all the numbers are in red, too.”
You may reach Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
