Foote Field isn’t just full of hot air these days.

On the eve of Thursday’s public unveiling of Edmonton’s new inflatable dome at the U of A south campus, big things are planned for the biggest covered turf field in the province.

Not the least of which is a Canada West rugby sevens pilot project being launched in the new year, in co-operation with Golden Bears and Pandas Athletics, B2ten and Rugby Canada.

Building off the momentum of Team Canada’s bronze medal in women’s rugby sevens at the Rio Olympics – which captured the attention of the nation with its fast-paced, made-for-TV action – a three-tournament series involving six Canada West schools will kick off at Foote Field on Jan. 21-22.

A three-year pilot project, the Canada West Women’s Rugby Sevens Series includes the U of A, University of British Columbia, University of Calgary, University of the Fraser Valley, University of Lethbridge and University of Victoria.

“We’ve been talking about it unofficially, but like everything there’s always the funding part of it,” said Pandas rugby head coach Matt Parrish, whose regular 15-player squad won bronze of their own at Canada West championships this season, despite undergoing the biggest turnover in his 18 years with the program after losing 14 players from the previous year. “Once we got the call, everybody was really ready to go.

“And then this (dome) was the good timing because it allowed us to do something in Alberta as well as on the coast.”

The U of A’s participation in the pilot project would have been severely limited were it not for their ability to practise indoors on a regular field.

“Last year, we did a tournament in Lethbridge, we were pushing our luck a little bit in the middle of March,” Parrish said. “But up here, you wouldn’t dare schedule anything where people are flying in.”

Once the pilot is finished, Parrish said he wouldn’t be surprised to see a rugby sevens league run alongside the already established 15-player game, with other U Sports conferences looking to get on board.

“I don’t think we quite know exactly which way this is going,” he said. “We’re just going to run with it.

“It gives us some legitimacy of being a separate sport, it’s not just 15s girls playing some sevens.”

The only immediate drawback is that for as much space as the dome covers, it doesn’t include the grandstands, making it primarily a practice facility with a focus on training and development as opposed to spectating. But the ends will begin to justify the means once the U of A’s football, soccer and rugby squads spend more and more off-season time training on the same turf they compete on during their U Sports season.

“I feel like the players they’re going to be way farther ahead, we’re going to make such a big jump,” Parrish said. “I was always having to practise in the Butterdome or in the Main Gym, or if I wanted to do some contact I even booked the wrestling room so we could actually throw ourselves around in there.

“But now to actually have that surface where it’s brand new field turf, and we actually played 15s on there for the first time this year, so the girls are comfortable in there.”

And that goes for U of A athletes present and future, considering the recruiting implications the new dome will bring.

“I think all of our field sport coaches are going to be the same, it’s just something else that you can show them,” said Parrish, who has already texted pictures from inside the dome to potential recruits. “Especially if they’re from Alberta, they’ve never seen anything like this.

“Recruiting’s going to be big.”

GModdejonge@postmedia.com

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