Bromberg Field Gets A New Pressbox

Wes Vork-NSO

Aug 6

Kerry Rodd-NSO

Cloquet football fans will have an awe inspiring sight greet them when they arrive at Rol Bromberg Field this fall. Finishing touches are being done on an impressive two-story tall press box that towers over the top of the stadium.

“We’ve been in the planning stages for about 3 or 4 years,” said Cloquet activities director and football coach Tom Lenarz. “Because of budget constraints we had to do this with volunteer work and money and the time was right to get this project done.”

The project hit full stride about a month ago with the purchasing of the materials and initial building of the frame work. Inside of three weeks, the volunteers had erected the enormous structure beneath the stadium and the press box was finally lifted into place on Thursday morning.

“It actually all went pretty smooth,” Lenarz commented of the lifting of the new press box into place. “Once we got the old press box down it didn’t take long before we were able to get the new one on top of the existing steel structure.”

The old press box was brought over to Bromberg Field from the old football field at Athletic Park. The structure had become quite run down and it wasn’t nearly big enough for today’s needs.

“It was very cramped and it had outlived its usefulness,” mentioned Lenarz. “We needed much more room and this press box gives us that room.”

The first things fans will see when they drive by the complex is a towering building stretching nearly 20 feet above the top of the bleachers. Eventually there will be a massive painted sign going across the press box which will say ‘Home of the Lumberjacks’.

“The first floor will house our home radio booth, the PA announcer, the scoreboard operator and our statistician, as well as visiting radio. On the second floor, the middle section will feature an area for videotaping by both the home and away team. One end of the second floor will have a booth for our home coaches and the other end will house room for visiting coaches.”

Each of the coaching booths will be walled in with a door so that coaches can have their privacy while calling games.

Excitement began to build on Thursday morning when Boldt Construction came in with a massive crane to take the old press box down and lift the new two-story structure. The crane was positioned near the southeast ends of the tennis courts and had no trouble lifting the old press box from its steel girders and then placing it gently on the ground near the tree line. About a half hour later, the massive new 13,000-lb structure was being secured into place high atop the stadium.

There will be some remaining work to be done on the new structure. Windows and doors are in place on the first floor, but there is still some siding work to be finished as well as roll up type windows in the upper floors.

“We wanted something to be functional and proud of all at the same time,” Lenarz explained. “It is an impressive sight to stand down by the field and look up at this structure. I am proud of how the volunteers came together on this project.”

Kerry Rodd can be reached at Kerry@northlandsportsonline.com