Appalachian State installing 2,500 end-zone seats at Kidd Brewer Stadium for 2016 season
Loud music blared from the scoreboard speakers at one end of Kidd Brewer Stadium.
As Appalachian State's football team practiced Wednesday afternoon, hammers produced the loud sounds at the other end.
Construction on end-zone bleachers that will seat 2,500 students and band members began Wednesday and was expected to be finished Thursday, a week before the Mountaineers open the 2016 season with a road game at Tennessee.
Appalachian State plays its home opener against Old Dominion on Sept. 10 and welcomes Miami to Boone a week later for a highly-anticipated noon game that will air on ESPN or ESPN2.
"Seeing the stands built, you definitely know it's about that time," running back Marcus Cox said.
Kidd Brewer Stadium's standard capacity is listed at 23,150, although the presence of temporary bleaches and an abundance of hill seating contributed to a record-setting crowd of 31,531 for a matchup with Elon in 2010.
The 2,500 seats being installed behind the end zone near Owens Field House will remain in place throughout the 2016 season, and it's likely that more field-level spectating areas will be added at the other end solely for the Miami game. There are other stadium improvements being made, including the addition of six concession stands.
The Miami game is an obvious reason to increase Kidd Brewer's capacity, but Appalachian State will follow that with four Sun Belt Conference home games. The Mountaineers are the league's preseason favorite, so there's plenty of excitement building about a season that begins in just over a week.
The construction is one sign September has almost arrived.
"It's awesome because we're getting ready to play the season," Appalachian State coach Scott Satterfield said. "We're excited, and we're ready to play. We're tired of hitting each other at this point.
“For us, it's going to be all mental - mainly - now. We're going to lighten up as far as the hitting goes, and it's going to be a lot of mental practices from here on out. Hopefully we're fresh and get our legs ready to go so we'll be able to play fast."
This story was originally published August 25, 2016 at 6:07 PM with the headline "Appalachian State installing 2,500 end-zone seats at Kidd Brewer Stadium for 2016 season."