For nine months, the sounds of machinery and clanking metal have replaced the sounds of bouncing basketballs at The Pit.

But that’s about to change.

Tonight, UNM’s 42-year-old arena will open up to the public when the Lobos take the court in an exhibition match against New Mexico Highlands.

“Once game time starts – the reaction, I hope, is positive,” said Tim Cass, senior associate director of athletics at UNM.

The Pit has been under construction for 153 days while it gets a modern day face-lift. The arena is scheduled to be finished in time for the beginning of the 2010-11 basketball season next November.

But this evening, all concessions and bathrooms will not be accessible because of the construction inside the arena. Instead, portable toilets and concession tents will be set up outside the gym.

Using the bathroom will require UNM basketball fans to walk outside to either the west or east side of the arena, Cass said.

“I’ve got two little kids myself, a six and an eight-year-old, and I am probably going to encourage them to go potty before they get to the arena,” he said. “All of (the porta potties) are outside and they are what I would consider to be 15 to 20 paces away from the building.”

The Athletics Department wants UNM students to be as much a part of the overall turnout as they were before the renovations, Cass said.

“Hopefully the experience isn’t a whole lot different (for students),” Cass said. “You know they will still be sitting in the same section and the seats are no different than they were last year. One of the things we’re most excited about is bringing back the free tickets to the students.”

Even with the ongoing construction to The Pit this year, students will enter at the designated UNM student entrance doors on the north concourse.

Students can get free tickets at the Popejoy Theater or visit the mobile ticket box office on the east side of The Pit.

The arena and the ticket box office will open 90 minutes before the games this season to account for traffic, whereas they opened 60 minutes before games in the past.

Bob Doty, assistant superintendent of Flint co. Inc, Construction Solutions, is overseeing The Pit renovations on a day-to-day basis.

Doty said the renovation has gone well even with the basketball season starting up.
“Normally something (being built) at this speed would be chaos with everybody, everywhere and not much getting completed,” he said. “But it’s going very smoothly, and it’s smoother than normal.”

Most concessions stands will also be outside in the tents, except for five or six stands in the concourse that will serve sodas, Cass said.

“We certainly all have come to The Pit on cold nights,” Cass said. “We have put heaters in our commons area, in our concession and outside the restroom areas. There was confusion on whether there would be concessions in the building, and there will be.”

UNM policy also permits re-entry into basketball games, Cass said.