End Of An Era: Demolition On Union's Tuttle Stadium Begins

After 43 years, Union's football stadium will be coming down. Tuttle Stadium opened in 1976.

At 10 a.m. on Thursday, crews will be completely taking down the whole west side of the stadium, which is the home side. 

Union said this will start a 17-month project to rebuild the stadium. 

Related Story: Union Stadium Demolition Begins This Week In Tulsa 

Union Public Schools said tearing down the entire west side will take 6-8 weeks. 

The new stadium will have redesigned concessions, redesigned restrooms, and a new fine arts facility for the band. 

The $42 million project will also include a new wrestling practice area, an expanded weight room, and locker room, as well as a new press box. 

Tuttle Stadium has hosted 866 events in the last two years alone. 

Union Public Schools said they wanted to make sure they did this project in parts, so their teams were still able to play at the stadium. 

Union Public Schools superintendent, Kirt Hartzler, said "for a lot of our big games that we will play, we have already set up our schedule to where those will be away next year, and we will have to figure that out in terms of how to seat all the visiting fans and home fans. We aren't too worried about that."

Hartzler said the stadium will be ready for the fall of 2021 football season. Then, it will take one more year to finish the fine arts facility.