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Hughes Stadium Finale Set for Saturday

Hughes Stadium

This weekend, Colorado State football will play its final game at Hughes Stadium, marking the end for a venerable college football facility.

Hughes Stadium first opened in 1968 for the Colorado State Rams, replacing the football program’s long-time home, Colorado Field. The 32,500-seat facility has been home to the Rams ever since, and in 2003 had its name extended to Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium—a tribute to head coach Sonny Lubick.

During Colorado State’s home finale against New Mexico on Saturday night, Hughes Stadium will go out in style. Parking lots are opening at 4:00 p.m. for the 8:15 p.m. contest, and special ceremonies will take place at halftime and after game.

Already, members of the Rams are reflecting on the significance of Hughes Stadium. More from Times-Call:

Head coach Mike Bobo said senior day is hard enough, but writing a final chapter at the same time adds to the nostalgia that will be flying around the place. His message to his team this week is they can’t afford to get caught up in all of that. He’s been in the game too long to not expect some emotions pre-game when players see their families on the field, but he also expects them to snap back in place in short order when the ball is kicked off.

Heck, he has memories there, too. It’s the ground of his first game as a head coach, and that can never be erased from the memory banks. Still, he won’t thinking about any of that during the game itself.

“I think the way I can honor Hughes as a head football coach is to get this team ready to play and play for 60 minutes,” Bobo said, “and put forth the best effort of fight and playing for each other and playing for everybody whose ever played a football game on that football field or anybody who’s ever watched a game.”

While the closing of Hughes Stadium marks the end of an era for Colorado State, the university has a new stadium opening next year. There has been significant progress over the last several months on the new stadium, which will cost roughly $220 million and is expected to seat more than 41,000. A topping off ceremony for the facility was held in August, and Colorado State announced this fall that all of the premium seating for the new stadium was already sold out.

That certainly builds the anticipation for the opening of the new stadium. In the meantime, however, Saturday’s game will give Colorado State a chance to celebrate decades of memories at Hughes Stadium.

Image courtesy Colorado State University. 

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