Almost a year to the day that the Mahaney Dome multi-sport indoor practice facility collapsed for the fourth time, the new bubble covering the new artificial turf surface has been inflated.
The old bubble, made of vinyl-coated polyester fabric, collapsed under the weight of snow and water in the middle of the dome’s top last January. The base of the dome was also damaged.
Nobody was hurt.
The tear was approximately 160 feet in length and the university decided not to try to repair it because the damage was so significant.
UMaine athletic director Jude Killy said it will be a little while before the various UMaine athletic teams can use the facility because there is a lot of work still to be done. He said the athletic department can spend up to $3 million on the project and the money will come from the $90 million and $80 million gifts given to the university by the Harold Alfond Foundation for upgrades to all of the athletic facilities at UMaine.
“They are doing a lot of the interior stuff now,” said Killy. “Everything is new. They are working on the lighting, the heating, the insulation. All those things are new. It’s all modern technology. And they have to paint the field.”
He also pointed out that they have to make sure the safety measures check out.
“There is an inspection process that has to go on and, after the inspection, we need to receive a certificate of occupancy before we can use it,” he explained. “The certificate of occupancy will take at least two weeks.”
The original Mahaney Dome was built in 2006 and it previously collapsed in March, 2007; Dec. 29, 2016 and on Jan. 28, 2019.
During the 2019 collapse, UMaine head softball coach Mike Coutts and six of his players were in the facility but they were able to get out unharmed.
The dome is named after the late Larry Mahaney, a UMaine graduate and longtime UMaine benefactor after whom the baseball field (Mahaney Diamond) is named.
Mahaney donated approximately $1 million to construct the dome.
The new dome will be 68 feet high which is 10 feet higher than the old dome and that could give them flexibility to do other things, Killy said.
The UMaine football, women’s soccer, baseball, softball and field hockey teams are among the teams that will use the facility.
Killy said the only thing they won’t have completed is the connector from the dome to the field house.
“That won’t be completed until this summer,” said.
