Williams Stadium Expansion Blog
May 2010

Williams Stadium Expansion Photo Gallery - May 2010
Updated as of 5/28/10

Williams Stadium Expansion Photo Gallery - April 2010
Updated as of 4/30/10

Williams Stadium Expansion Photo Gallery - March 2010
Updated as of 3/31/10

Williams Stadium Expansion Photo Gallery - Dec. 2009 - Feb. 2010
Updated as of 2/26/10

Williams Stadium Expansion Site Video Capture (From Top of Williams Stadium East Side Concession Stand)
Image updated every 15 minutes

Williams Stadium Expansion Site Video Capture (From Top of Hancock Athletic Center)
Image updated every 30 minutes

Williams Stadium Demolition Blog
Note: Includes photos and video

Latest Williams Stadium Expansion Renderings

Williams Stadium Expansion Announcement on Aug. 30, 2009

Williams Stadium History Page

The Williams Stadium expansion project officially launched construction on Jan. 4, 2010, and LibertyFlames.com will be providing daily updates throughout the process via this expansion blog.

Starting today, LibertyFlames.com will be adding two or three photos each day (Monday through Friday) to the Williams Stadium expansion photo gallery link (see above), providing viewers the latest images throughout the eight-month stadium expansion process.

Additionally, the web site will be providing updates throughout the construction process through the expansion blog below.

The latest blog entries will be posted first. A blog post history will follow, allowing viewers to track the updates until the stadium expansion process is completed in time for Liberty’s 2010 home opener against St. Francis (Pa.) on Sept. 4, 2010.

Previous Blog Entries: Due to the larger number of photos our previous blog entries have included and the download problems larger groups of photos can create, we are going to start dividing each month’s blog entries up into a separate page. To view a previous month’s blog entry list, please click the appropriate link below:

Dec. 16, 2009 – Feb. 26, 2010

March 1 - March 31, 2010

April 1 - April 30, 2010

May 28, 2010: The Williams Stadium expansion site remained relatively quiet most of the day, as the Branch & Associate, Inc., workforce got their first day off in several weeks, allowing the out-of-town workers to visit with friends and family for the Memorial Day weekend. When the workforce returns next week, the primary focal points will be to continue to place the preformed concrete sections into place for the upper deck club level seating area, picking up where they left off in the new section 207. Additionally, work will continue on the south end of the stadium where the crew will pour the remaining concrete for the third floor, which will be 25 inches deep and creates the base for the club level area and three terraces. A week’s worth of prep work is still on the schedule and the crew is currently planning on pouring that section of concrete on Friday. While the work site might have been quiet for most of the day, it did have a bit of a stir during later in the afternoon, as Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr., his wife, Becki Falwell and several other members of their family got a tour of the site. Head foreman Dale Sherburne was able to take the Falwell family up the stairway scaffolding located now on the south end of the stadium for a look at the completed and partially completed sections where the large club room level will be when the project is completed. Finally, as part of our last blog post for the month of May, Nick Pierce was able to sit down with Director of Athletics Jeff Barber to get a bi-weekly update on the project’s overall status (Nick and Jeff had a chance to sit down and talk in between baseball games today, as both are down in Rock Hill, S.C., supporting the Flames at the 2010 Big South Baseball Championship … Liberty won its opening game today against Winthrop, 9-7, and will either face High Point or No. 4 Coastal Carolina at 7 p.m. tonight for the chance to advance to the championship game at 1 p.m. tomorrow).

Jeff Barber Audio Interview – May 28, 2010

May 27, 2010: The Williams Stadium expansion crew continued on its steady pace of work throughout the morning hours on the upper deck, club level seating area. By midday, the expansion crew had placing the preformed concrete sections for section 208, while underneath support beams were added during the afternoon hours for the first part of section 207. Additionally, the Branch & Associate, Inc. crew started deconstructed stairway scaffolding on the north end of the stadium (near the Osborne Stadium soccer press box), because that portion of the third floor has been completed. Next week, the expansion crew will shift their focus to the south end of the stadium, where they will pour the remaining concrete for the third floor, which will be 25 inches deep and creates the base for the club level area and terraces.

May 26, 2010: Work continued throughout the day on Wednesday on the upper deck club level seating area inside Williams Stadium. By day’s end, nearly all of the preformed concrete segments that will make up the base for the new section 209 were in place. Additionally work continued one section to the left, as the underneath support beams for the new section 208 were being installed. A bonus photo has been included with today’s blog post which details the updated/new sections numbers for the expanded west side of the stadium (drawing taken from the Liberty Football ticket brochure).

May 25, 2010: The Branch & Associate, Inc., crew started to put to use the newly constructed crane that is stationed on the actual playing surface at Williams Stadium on Tuesday. Truck loads of preformed concrete were driven into the stadium throughout the day and the 300-ton crane started to hoist them up onto the now finished created raker beams. This is the next step in the process of finishing the new upper deck club level seating area. By midday, two large sections of preformed concrete had been placed at the base of raker beams No. 1, 2 and 3.

May 24, 2010: The first day of the new work week brought much excitement around the Williams Stadium expansion site on Monday. Throughout the morning hours, six 18-wheel trucks began dropping of parts to a 300-ton crane that will service the next part of the expansion process. Once the crane is assembled (with the help of the current crane on site), it will help to lift large sections of preformed concrete on the raker beams that will serve as the base for the upper deck club level seating area. The preformed sections of concrete will be brought into the parking lot of the Williams Football Operations Center parking lot and the 300-ton crane will swing them from the parking lot into place on the 16 raker beams.

May 21, 2010: The first week of summer around the University brings to a close a major phase in the Williams Stadium expansion project. The Branch & Associate, Inc., crew spent a good portion of the day starting to remove the framing around raker beams No. 14, 15 and 16. By the beginning of next week, all the framing will be removed, including several levels of scaffolding, leaving all 16 raker beams ready for the next step in the process of constructing the upper deck club level seating area.

May 19, 2010: A considerable amount of concrete work took place around the Williams Stadium expansion site throughout the day, as the crew spent the morning hours pouring concrete for raker beams No. 14, 15 and 16. Over the next several days, the wooden frame forms around those three beams will be removed, completing the first phase of the raker beam project. Other members of the Branch & Associate, Inc., crew spent the day preparing the area for a large crane that will be assembled next week on site. The crane, which will come to Liberty in pieces and need to be assembled, will be stationed on the home side of the Williams Stadium FieldTurf. The crew spent most of the day beginning to lay down materials that will help protect the FieldTurf from the weight of the new crane.

May 18, 2010: Work resumed all around the Williams Stadium expansion site, as the rain showers that hampered progress on Monday had cleared the Central Virginia area overnight. The Branch & Associate, Inc., crew continued to frame in the final three supports that will help create raker beams No. 14, 15 and 16. Additional, work continued toward the north end of the stadium, as the expansion crew prepared the base for the third floor of the press and suite tower. Once the support base is completed, the expansion crew will pour roughly 25 inches of concrete that will create the level’s actually flooring. The third floor will house the large club room for certain levels of the Flames Club members and will become one of the largest banquet facilities in the city of Lynchburg once it is completed.

May 17, 2010: Following a bustling weekend of activity inside and surrounding Williams Stadium, including Liberty University’s commencement exercises that saw over 8,000 students receive degrees, the Williams Stadium expansion site remained relatively quiet most of the day on Monday. A steady rain hampered any type of significant work on the project throughout the day, but there have been some changes around the site since our last blog entry. Raker beams No. 14 and 15 have each been completely framed in, while No. 16 has just a little more work until it is ready for the next step in the process. Once completed, concrete will be poured into each frame, creating the last three raker beams that will help support the upper deck club level seating area. The final picture included in today’s blog entry was taken at graduation, showing Williams Stadium filled with roughly 28,000 people. When all three phases of the Williams Stadium expansion project have been completed during the next five years, Williams Stadium will hold 30,000 fans for home football games.

May 12, 2010: Today’s blog entry for the Williams Stadium expansion project includes some bonus coverage, as this will be the last entry for the remainder of the week. Half of the Athletics Communications staff will be on the road this weekend (at either the Big South Softball Championships or the track and field ECAC/IC4A Championships) and the other half will be preparing for the HUGE baseball series between Liberty and No. 4 Coastal Carolina, the top two teams in the Big South Conference. Posted below are 10 photos from around the expansion site, starting with two photos of the continuing progress on the south tower elevator shaft, a photo taken from behind raker beams No. 14, 15 and 16, a photo of the scaffolding coming down around raker beams No. 12 and 13, a photo taken in front raker beams No. 14, 15 and 16 (which are almost all framed in and ready for concrete to be poured), a close-up photo of raker beam No. 16, a photo taken from the top of the 3,000-seat temporary bleacher section in the south end of the stadium, a photo of the completed northeast corner extension with bleachers, a photo of the northwest corner extension (where all rows have been poured and is just waiting for the new bleacher seating) and finally a photo taken from the north end zone which shows all the temporary seating around Williams Stadium for Liberty’s commencement exercises on Saturday. The blog is schedule to return on Monday. Make sure you use the extra time that you would have spent looking over this blog on a daily basis and come out to support your Liberty Flames baseball team in one of the biggest home series in program history. The Flames take on No. 4 Coastal Carolina on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. under the lights at Worthington Stadium, with a Sunday afternoon finale at 1 p.m. BEAT COASTAL!

May 11, 2010: Cooler weather and some intermittent rain showers did not keep the Branch & Associate, Inc., crew from getting another solid day of work in at the Williams Stadium expansion site. The crew continues to build the scaffolding needed to support the base of the third floor, which will eventually hold the large club level for the Flames Club members. Currently, scaffolding is in place from the far north end of the expansion project down to the 40-yardline on the south end of the field. Once all the scaffolding is in place, which should be by the end of the week, 25 inches of concrete will be poured to create the base for the club level area and three terraces. Finally, Nick Pierce was able to sit down with Director of Athletics Jeff Barber to get a bi-weekly update on the project’s overall status.

Jeff Barber Audio Interview – May 11, 2010

May 7, 2010: As we close the first full week of May, the Williams Stadium expansion crew is starting to near completion of the raker beams that will support the upper deck club level seating area. The Branch & Associate, Inc., crew spent most of the morning hours pouring the concrete for raker beams No. 12 and No. 13, while framing work continued on the remaining three beams. Within the next two weeks, this phase of the project is scheduled to be complete.

May 6, 2010: The four corner bleacher seating area extensions to Williams Stadium are nearing completion. All rows have been completed in the southeast corner of the stadium, while all but five rows remain in the southwest corner (these five rows have not been finished, as the expansion crew needed the space to create the support beams that will help form the last few raker beams). Late this afternoon, the expansion crew was putting the finishing touches on the northeast corner of the stadium, as they were securing the last few rows of bleacher seats. Finally, the northwest corner of the stadium continues to move toward completion, as concrete has been poured for nearly 20 rows.

May 5, 2010: As promised during yesterday’s blog post, today we take a look at preparation work for the next phase of the Williams Stadium expansion project once all 18 raker beams have been completed. In between raker beams No. 1 and No. 2 and No. 2 and No. 3, additional support has been added during the last several days. Once all 16 raker beams have been finished and just after Liberty’s commencement exercises on May 15, an enormous crane will be brought into Williams Stadium, which will lift preformatted sections of concrete from the parking lot of the Williams Football Operations Center and drop them in place on top of the constructed raker beams. This concrete bottom will provide the necessary base for the upper deck club level seating area. The new crane will be much larger than the one that is currently servicing the expansion site. It will be brought into the site in pieces and will be assembled by using the current crane. One of the pictures in our blog post today was taken underneath the bottom of the raker beams, which shows that the upper deck club level seating area will overhang the lower seating area by roughly five rows (these lower level seats will be one of the more coveted seats inside the stadium when it rains on game day, outside of the main club room and the 16 individual luxury suites … imagine how much a ticket could have gone for on Sept. 26, of last season had Liberty had its new stadium ready when the Flames hosted James Madison during a torrential downpour).

May 4, 2010: The first Williams Stadium blog post should have been posted yesterday, but office duties called us in another direction, as we announced the retirement of Jerry Edwards. After 29 of broadcasting Liberty’s football and men’s basketball games, Jerry has decided to hang up the microphone and headsets and start to enjoy watching Liberty Athletics from the stands. The “Voice of the Flames” will certainly be missed and we are just sorry that Jerry couldn’t have called a game from this beautiful facility that is quickly starting to come together before our very eyes (Note: The radio broadcasting booth will be named in his honor … for more information, please click here). Today’s blog post shows some picture updates from the construction of the raker beams. Beams No. 1 through No. 10 have been completed, leaving just eight additional beams to be completed. Tomorrow, we will show you some further work in between beams No. 1 and No. 2 and No. 2 and No. 3, as the Branch & Associate, Inc., expansion crew starts to prepare the area for the next phase of the project.

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