Thousands of Husky fans will be going through the UW Light Rail station when it opens, and they may be in for an unpleasant surprise.
On the outside, the UW Light Rail station is still the color of concrete.
A tip from Facebook led us to ask Sound Transit for an underground tour where construction is close to completion.
That's where KIRO 7 saw what the tipster saw - a color that appears to look like that worn by the University of Oregon football team.
Up top, we showed a picture to Husky fans passing by.
“That seems like a mistake. That's almost Pittsburgh - even worse,” said Husky fan Perry Wiggans.
We ran into a Washington State Fan who called himself Bobby and asked him if they would have done that at WSU.
“Nah. No way. Crimson. It's real easy. What's color's a Husky? Purple and gold. Should be fired,” he said.
Sound Transit construction manager Mark Pickerill told us the color was chosen five years ago, before Oregon started using neon yellow in its uniforms.
When KIRO 7 asked why they hadn’t used purple and gold, he responded, “Well it would have been a lot here right in front of the stadium. We were trying to be neutral and we saw this as a neutral color.”
Yellow's not only on the walls; it's also on the light fixtures.
Pickerill said changing it would cost at least a half-million dollars.
He pointed out that the University of Washington approved the color before the walls were installed.
“They have a committee. We had to have it approved by them first,” he said.
Sound Transit is hoping people won’t mind the color of the walls after they discover that they can get a six minute ride from the Husky Stadium to downtown Seattle.
The UW Light Rail station is scheduled to open in early 2016, six to nine months ahead of schedule and $150 million under budget.
KIRO
