WAYNE – The 2017-18 Wildcat Press Box Replacement Project is nearing an end with the fall sports season quickly approaching.
In less than a week the Wayne High football team will suit up to host Wahoo on Friday, August 24 at 7 p.m. from Bob Cunningham Field as the Wildcats will host a top 25 team of Winona the following week on Thursday, August 30 at 6 p.m.
The project began towards the end of the football season last year with steel and overall structural of the footings put in place. As the weather continued to get better, the shell and inner workings of the box were installed.
Director of Athletics for Wayne State College, Mike Powicki talked about the elevator tower will catch your eye on the walk up or drive by.
“That’ll access, well actually five floors,” said Powicki. “You have the base floor, then you have the mezzanine level which is the coach’s offices. Most people don’t realize, our coach’s offices are underneath the stadium with the weight room and then there’s three more levels.”
The first “new” level will be on the third floor where a big area can be used for recruiting, team meetings and classroom space in the club level. On the next floor up will be the game-day working media and top part will be the camera-deck.
Head football coach Dan McLaughlin said the press box project will be a huge upgrade.
“This is going to be amazing and it’s going to be good for the school, it’s going to be good for the community, it’s going to be good for everybody,” McLaughlin added. “So, there’s no negatives about it at all.”
Coach McLaughlin is also excited to utilize the press box and share it with everyone else.
The planning process began three-plus years ago and Powicki mentioned it has been a long time coming.
“We’ve had some great donors step up to make it happen,” Powicki mentioned. “The institution was a big part of the funding, so just thankful for all the people who supported the project and I think everybody is going to be pretty excited to see it when it’s finished.”
The press box will be used by members of the press, coaches, officials as well as college students involved in Broadcasting, Health and Human Performance & Sport degree programs.
More graphics will be placed on the press box in the near future as well as a Wildcat Paw logo in neon-signage.
