One of the most thrilling and exciting days in the history of Fairfield athletics is only two days away, the grand opening of the Leo D. Mahoney Arena.
The interior of the building looks just about complete, with only a few more minor modifications appearing to be left to work on before women’s basketball hosts Stonehill College in a matchup at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 15 at the new barn.
If you have had the chance to walk by the new arena in the last month, you can notice that a lot of progress has been made. You can now see the scoreboard and LED fixtures up and running, the vast majority of the seats have been installed as well as having the merchandise shop by the entrance.
If you take a step closer, you can notice that they are even starting to get the concession stands settled in. There will be a variety of food options for fans to choose from, such as the Red Sea Pub, which debuted as one of the dining options on an Instagram hype-up video released as a joint post by the Fairfield University and Fairfield Stags accounts.
Also in the video, it shows that the banners depicting achievements by both the men’s and women’s basketball teams have been raised to the rafters and every seat has been installed.
Also, the parking lot behind the arena is no longer flooded with construction. The parking area that is anchored by the arena, Barone Campus Center and the Egan School of Nursing has been limited over the past year and a half. That is not the case anymore, as the barriers appear to have been removed in addition to the closed-off parking area being repaved, therefore adding more spots to the surrounding area.
If you look on the right side of the arena, you will see that the barriers have been removed surrounding the former lawn space adjacent to the BCC. Sod has now been placed and the grass is once again growing, whereas another path has been constructed, therefore giving students another path to walk on when they are traveling to their classes.
The exterior design of the building is highly modern as well. There are multiple designs of the Fairfield Stags logo on the side, which goes along perfectly with the new 85,000-square-foot structure.
It is a thrilling time for Fairfield, and it will be exciting to see a packed house on Friday evening as Fairfield athletics dawns a new era of excellence both on the court and in the stands.
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