THOUSAND OAKS, CA. - California Lutheran University will break ground on the $8.9 million William Rolland Stadium at 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 13.

The two-story stadium will have about 2,000 fixed seats, a permanent artificial turf field and outdoor sports lighting. The first-class facility will include home team locker rooms, coaches offices and meeting rooms, a press box, VIP lounge and campus clock tower. It will accommodate football, soccer and intramural athletic matches and practices as well as commencement ceremonies.

The new stadium will be built to current National Collegiate Athletic Association standards. Last year, the Kingsmen clinched a spot in the NCAA Division III football championship tournament but couldn’t host playoff games because Mt. Clef Stadium doesn’t meet the criteria.

CLU has used Mt. Clef Stadium since 1963. It was built not only for CLU’s team but also as a summer training ground for the Dallas Cowboys.

The new stadium is named for William Rolland, a former firefighter and real estate developer who was a founding resident of Westlake Village. His gift of $5.45 million for the project is the largest single gift in the history of the university.

The new 16,000-square-foot facility will also house the William Rolland Gallery of Fine Art, where pieces of Rolland’s extensive collection of bronze statuary and paintings will be exhibited.

The project is slated for completion by fall 2011.

The stadium will be located west of Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center on the north side of Olsen Road near Campus Drive in Thousand Oaks. Other state-of-the-art sports facilities that have opened in this part of campus in recent years include Samuelson Aquatics Center, George “Sparky” Anderson Field and Ullman Stadium, Hutton Field and the Poulson Tennis Center.