Autzen Stadium suffered more than $200,000 in water damage when a beverage machine hose became disconnected and gushed water through three different floors, according to an Athletics Department official.
Tom Larson, director of the Athletics Department’s business office, said cleanup will cost between $50,000 to $75,000, and repairs are estimated at $150,000. Larson said the University has already filed an insurance claim with the state of Oregon insurance fund and is now waiting to hear back from them.
Bob Beals, assistant athletics director for operations and events, said the Athletics Department discovered the leak on Sept. 23, but it is still investigating why the hose became disconnected. Beals said the pipe could have been leaking water for as long as 24 hours.
“We don’t know exactly what happened there,” Beals said. “We think this is just kind of a freak accident.”
The damage began in the press box on the top floor of the south building, Beals said, and then the water seeped into the lower two floors and caused the most damage to the roof of the club room, which is located on the bottom floor.
Athletics Department Food Services Director Eric Brandt said the beverage machine is similar to the ones found in fast-food restaurants and gas stations, except that it serves from both sides of the machine. This makes it unique from the other beverage dispensing machines at Autzen.
“There’s only one of its kind in the stadium,” Brandt said.
Beals said they are unsure how much water the hose leaked before it was discovered, but it was enough to ruin the drywall on all three floors.
“(Drywall is) like a piece of cardboard when wet,” he said. “It doesn’t do well in floods.”
He added that it took workers two weeks to repair and replace everything that was damaged by the leak.
Besides having to replace and repaint the drywall, workers also had to vacuum out the water from the carpets. But Beals said they were lucky and got to the problem in enough time that they were able to save the majority of the flooded carpets. He added that two 27-inch televisions also had to be replaced.
The water-damaged areas have been completely restored to their original states, Beals said.