13 WTHR - Indianapolis News |Stadium ready for opening weekend

Stadium ready for opening weekend

Rich Van Wyk/Eyewitness News

Indianapolis - The new home of the Colts will get its first test this weekend when high school teams take the field at Lucas Oil Stadium.

The Peyback Classic is the first test of what's expected to be one of the nation's premier sporting and convention facilities. Saturday, four more games kickoff before the Colts make their debut at the stadium on Sunday.

"Everything works," said Bob Grand, chairman of the Capital Improvement Board, the city agency responsible for running the $720 million stadium. "Toilets, concession stands, lights, sound, video. Everything works, everything works."

Hundreds of stadium employees and construction workers spent the week preparing. Friday, businessman Forrest Lucas - who bought naming rights for the stadium - helped move another race car into the stadium. All three nights of games, a team of contractors will be in the stadium, ready to fix surprise problems.

"You try to guess what the problems are going to be, but the real problem won't be on anybody's list," said David Frick with the Indiana Stadium and Convention Building Authority.

Frick knows about those problems from experience. Twenty-five years ago, he helped build the Hoosier Dome. When 60,000 people filled the stands, the water mains clogged, shutting down concessions and bathrooms for much of the night.

Last weekend's public tours brought 130,000 people into Lucas Oil Stadium, testing it's staff, security, concession and mechanical systems, from the expensive club suites to basement refrigerators stocked with beer that gets piped throughout the building.

"Sunday, we opened up, served food and had people in here," Grand said.

Grand added that one major amenity has also been planned for - women shouldn't have to stand in line to use the restroom.

"We hope not. We've doubled the number [of women's restrooms]. We think everybody is going to be comfortable," he said.