MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- After years of lobbying, begging and pleading to get an outdoor football stadium built on campus, the University of Minnesota is finally seeing some tangible signs that the dream is about to become a reality.
President Robert Bruininks, athletic director Joel Maturi, new football coach Tim Brewster, and a host of university representatives and corporate sponsors gathered at the site of the stadium on Wednesday for a groundbreaking ceremony that begins the construction in earnest.
"It's very symbolic of the reality that this stadium is going to be built," Bruininks said.
For a long time, Bruininks couldn't take that for granted. The university lobbied the state legislature for years to try and gain some state dollars for the project, which will take the football team out of the stale Metrodome and put it in a new, 50,000-seat stadium for the start of 2009.
"I never doubted it once the legislature made its decision and the governor signed the bill. I never doubted it was the right thing to do ... It's just hard work. You have to do the planning, you have to get the contracts, you have to raise the money. We still have some work to do, but I feel very good about our position. I think we're in very good shape to finish this off and make it a really spectacular addition to the University of Minnesota."
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Once the legislature gave approval, university officials started soliciting big businesses in the area for funding. TCF Bank purchased the naming rights, but other big-ticket donations have been slower to come.
Nevertheless, Bruininks insists the funding goals are within reach. And now that actual construction is beginning on the site, he expects the public to be galvanized by seeing the project come to fruition.
"All they've had to work on is sort of a vision and some schematic drawings," Bruininks said. "Now they can begin to see some roads have moved, equipment is on the site. We're starting to excavate the land to actually build the stadium itself. As more and more of it gets built, people can actually visualize how magnificent this location and setting will be."
Contractors said site clearing and demolition will continue through August, with concrete work beginning in September and structural work slated to begin Jan. 1.
"Two years and things will move very, very quickly from this point on," Bruininks said. "Now you're going to get the actual construction done and will begin to see it rise out of the ground."
Ever the optimist, Maturi said he always had confidence the project would be finished.
"Right does win out. The right thing will happen," Maturi said. "Gopher football belongs on campus."
Standing on a parking lot that was painted to mark where the football field will be, Brewster couldn't wait for the return of outdoor football to the University of Minnesota, which used to play outdoors on campus at Memorial Stadium.
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"It sends chills down my back thinking about all the memories of all the people that sat in Memorial Stadium, and all the championships that were won, and all the excitement," Brewster said. "It's going to happen again. They talked about it for a long time, and now it's real."
