PULLMAN, Wash. – Fresh on the heels of two tough road games and an upset win over perennial Pac-12 powerhouse USC, the Washington State University Cougar football team returns to Martin Stadium at 3:30 p.m. this Saturday, Sept. 14, to take on the Thunderbirds of Southern Utah University.
By mid-week, fewer than 3,000 tickets remained available for the Cougar’s 2013 home debut. As always, the WSU football home weekend will be packed with a variety of activities and events for the Cougar faithful of all ages. The festivities will begin Friday when the Cougar Women’s Soccer hosts UNLV at 2:30 p.m. in a game televised by the Pac-12 Networks and continue that evening with “First Down Friday,” a free community pep rally hosted by the Pullman Chamber of Commerce and featuring inflatables for the kids, live music, food, ice cream and a beer garden. A variety of other activities and events will continue on campus throughout the day on Saturday. A complete list of those is available here.
Fans and visitors arriving for the game on Saturday will notice a number of changes have been made or are currently in the works at Martin Stadium. The familiar video scoreboard on the west end of the stadium has been removed and a new one, featuring the latest light emitting diode (LED) video technology, has been erected on the stadium’s east end. The new scoreboard’s video display is more than double the size of the previous display and provides four times the resolution, exceeding the high definition standard. The scoreboard features one of the few high definition video displays in use in college football.
The most prominent feature of the west end of the stadium is now the construction of WSU’s new $61 million state-of-the art football operations building, scheduled for completion next May. Fans and visitors arriving for the game should take into account a number of changes related to that ongoing construction:
•The west end of Martin Stadium is closed. While Cougville will return for pregame at home WSU football games, the west end of Martin Stadium, including Gate I, will be closed for the 2013 football season. Fans can access Cougville at Rogers Field from either Glenn Terrell Mall or Colorado Street. Fans entering Martin Stadium are encouraged to use Gates E, F, G or H for access to the South side of the stadium and Gates A or B for North side access.
•The student entrance for the 2013 season will be Gate A, in the Northeast corner of Martin Stadium (by the Main Ticket Office and Cougar Pride statue). There will be no Martin Stadium access via Bohler Gym or Hollingbery Fieldhouse in 2013.
•Access to Hollingbery Fieldhouse and Mooberry Track will be limited. Fans are encouraged to use Stadium Way (from the North/East) or Glenn Terrell Mall (from the South/West) to access Martin Stadium. Please refer to your ticket for your specific entrance gate.
General parking for home football games is available on campus in designated parking areas on the eastern side of campus for $20.General parking permits can be purchased online prior to game day or at the entrances to the lots on game day. General parking lots are filled on a first come, first served basis. Game Day parking information and a link to a campus general parking map are available online here. For additional information regarding general parking, call WSU Transportation Services, 509-335-PARK (7275).
For the convenience of those who might wish to park off-campus, WSU has teamed up with Pullman Transit to establish Park and Ride locations where fans can park vehicles for free and catch a Cougar-themed Pullman Transit bus for the ride to Martin Stadium. Buses are scheduled to arrive and depart from each location at approximately 15-minute intervals. The Park and Ride lots will be opened three hours prior to each home game.
A map of Park and Ride locations is available here.
A limited number of recreational vehicle (RV) parking permits for the home opening weekend remain available. Overnight RV parking permits are available only to recreational vehicles that are fully self-contained (no hookups are provided) and must be pre-purchased online. RV parking information is available online here.
Also of note this weekend:
•Stadium Way will be closed three hours before kickoff to 1½ hours after the end of the game. Find helpful Gameday Traffic and Travel information here.
• The Cougar Prowl walk, which gives Cougar fans a chance to cheer on their arriving football players near the Cougar Pride statue at the entrance to Martin Stadium begins at 1:15 p.m.
• A public dedication of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication’s Goertzen Communication Addition, renamed in honor of WSU Alumna and renowned broadcast journalist Kathi Goertzen, will take place at 445 Veteran’s Way at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday
Contact:
Robert Strenge, WSU News, 509-335-3583, rstrenge@wsu.edu
