Yeah I know I need a life. I've been getting/hearing various reports of renovations and upgrades going on at Hanson Stadium over the past few years......yet for whatever reason I can never get anything official on what exactly is the plan for this facility so....I decided to go see for myself.
Admittedly I always pretty much hated going to and covering games at the old Hanson for various reasons (outdated facility/bad turf/horrible lights/non stop traffic issues and just a very congested area with very little parking etc) yet like some of the other old school city stadiums.....Hanson has a ton of history etc.
Again sorry if the photos aren't exactly more telling but as you can see just getting near the stadium and getting a good look inside is tough right now between several areas marked off during the construction.
So.....the good? The old Hanson has basically been killed off. Hanson Stadium has new field turf, new stands along with a new scoreboard and most importantly a new digital lighting system. It looks really good and once all of the work is done it will look even better.
I guess what I didn't realize is that the overall scope of this renovation is much bigger than I expected. The majority of the on the field works seems to be done....but a big portion of this work is the underneath infrastructure cement and steel support work that still needs to be done underneath the stadium on both sides. It looks like this important portion of the project isn't anywhere close to being done in my opinion....right now I'm not sure that this would be approved for fans to be allowed in the stadium because of all ther work still in progress.
Again I'm no construction manager but I still see a ton of work that still needs to happen. Again I'm definitely encouraged at what's happened so far.....but as far as being able to host games this fall? I don't see it for now but I'll check back in a month or so.
Admittedly I always pretty much hated going to and covering games at the old Hanson for various reasons (outdated facility/bad turf/horrible lights/non stop traffic issues and just a very congested area with very little parking etc) yet like some of the other old school city stadiums.....Hanson has a ton of history etc.
Again sorry if the photos aren't exactly more telling but as you can see just getting near the stadium and getting a good look inside is tough right now between several areas marked off during the construction.
So.....the good? The old Hanson has basically been killed off. Hanson Stadium has new field turf, new stands along with a new scoreboard and most importantly a new digital lighting system. It looks really good and once all of the work is done it will look even better.
I guess what I didn't realize is that the overall scope of this renovation is much bigger than I expected. The majority of the on the field works seems to be done....but a big portion of this work is the underneath infrastructure cement and steel support work that still needs to be done underneath the stadium on both sides. It looks like this important portion of the project isn't anywhere close to being done in my opinion....right now I'm not sure that this would be approved for fans to be allowed in the stadium because of all ther work still in progress.
Again I'm no construction manager but I still see a ton of work that still needs to happen. Again I'm definitely encouraged at what's happened so far.....but as far as being able to host games this fall? I don't see it for now but I'll check back in a month or so.
