DiCarlo Fast-Tracking Razorback Stadium Expansion

DiCarlo Construction Co. of Kansas City, Mo., won the special contract for preliminary site work on the expansion of Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

Its low bid of $850,000 includes drill pier work, demolition and utility relocation on the east side of the facility along Stadium Drive.

The expansion will take the University of Arkansas’ home football facility from 50,000 seats to 73,000 seats by the 2000 season. Athletic director J. Frank Broyles says the total project could run as high as $70 million, depending on the amount of reconstruction and renovation that’s done.

Rick McKinney, DiCarlo’s regional manager, says 14 workers have been putting in overtime to meet the contract deadline, which requires the site work to be “finally complete” by Oct. 9 — the day the Hogs host to Middle Tennessee State University in Fay-etteville.

DiCarlo has already demolished the walkway that connected Stadium Drive to the second level of the stadium and relocated the underground sanitary sewer system. It will build another walkway from the stadium’s northeast corner down into the mezzanine level and a temporary bridge to the second level to be used this season.

The reinforced steel and concrete foundation, which will support a new east side upper deck, is being placed as deep as 32 feet into the ground.

Subcontractors include Earthworks Inc. of Neosho, Mo., Midwest Pier Drilling Co. of Lexana, Kan., and both Mid-Continent Concrete of Arkansas Inc. and McClelland Consulting Engineers Inc. in Fayetteville.

High-side estimates for the overall project include redoing the press box and concourses. The university’s board of trustees approved in May the athletic department’s request to borrow $30 million for the expansion, and the non-profit Razorback Foundation Inc. of Fay-etteville has committed another $15 million.

Broyles is seeking addition funding from corporate and private supporters.

Hogwired for sound

Arkansas National Bank of Bentonville has become the UA athletic department’s first website sponsor. The five-figure deal has created a new source of revenue for the Razorbacks, whose website is now known as “hogwired.com, presented by Arkansas National Bank.”

UA director of marketing and licensing Matt Shanklin says the Hogs are in the process of making space available on all of the site’s pages for other interested advertisers. Millennia Systems of Bentonville recently redesigned the entire website to make it easier to navigate, load and view.

“This new revenue source is allowing us to upgrade our website and provide fans and recruits those things that our website needs to have,” Shanklin says.

The site features a webcast area that links to broadcast.com, where surfers may hear all of the Hogs’ radio broadcasts. It also features connections to Total Sports Cybercast, which provides real-time statistics and play-by-play coverage of football and basketball games.

An additional link to Praja, a software company servicing 35 major universities this season, will enable surfers to download highlight stats, video and audio on a given player late each Sunday night. The UA is hoping the sites new features will attract as many new advertisers as interested fans.