September 15, 2000 SELINSGROVE, Pa. - Now in its 102nd season, Susquehanna University football will usher in a new era on Saturday, September 23, when the Crusaders host Dickinson College in the first game at Nicholas A. Lopardo Stadium. A ribbon-cutting ceremony to dedicate the new stadium will precede the 1:30 p.m. kick-off. All fans will be admitted free of charge to the game. Parking will be limited due to the Market Street Festival in Selinsgrove the same day. Spectators are encouraged to park in campus lots, particularly those along Sassafras Street which offer easy access to the stadium. The stadium is the second completed component in an ongoing $14 million expansion and renovation of sports and fitness facilities at Susquehanna. It was built near the former football field, which was the site of Crusader home games for more than 100 years. The playing surface of Lopardo Stadium has retained the name of Amos Alonzo Stagg Field. The new stadium provides seating capacity for 3,500 spectators, an eight-lane, quarter-mile track, a concession stand and bookstore annex, and an expanded press box. It is named for Nick Lopardo, a former football and baseball player at Susquehanna and a member of the University's board of directors and Sports Hall of Fame. Lopardo is vice chair of State Street Corporation, Boston, and chair and chief executive officer of State Street Global Advisors. The next component of the sports and fitness project -- the new Clyde H. Jacobs Fitness Center -- will be completed the end of October 2000. The glass-fronted, 9,300-square-foot, two-level addition to O.W. Houts Gymnasium will feature selectorized weight-training machines and aerobic fitness equipment. It will also include a new student lounge with café dining. The recent erection of a steel structure between Houts Gymnasium and Lopardo Stadium signals the start of construction on a new, 51,000-square-foot field house, which is scheduled for completion in August 2001. It will be joined to the gymnasium by a 6,000-square-foot, two-story connecting link. The field house will feature a six-lane, 200-meter indoor track, four multi-purpose playing courts for basketball, tennis and volleyball, and indoor team practice space for field sports. The connecting building will contain new sports medicine and training facilities, and meeting and study space. Renovations to existing athletic facilities will include conversion of the Alumni Gymnasium into racquetball and squash courts. Other improvements, expected for completion in spring 2001, include a new free weights room; five new offices, additional team and staff locker rooms, and a new whirlpool and sauna. Contact: Betsy Robertson 570-372-4119 #br/287#