Despite any rumors to the contrary, Arkansas won’t have access to the new locker rooms inside the north end zone of Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium next season. While the locker room is still in the process of being completed, it has little to no chance of being built in time for Razorback Stadium’s home opener Sept. 9 against TCU — Arkansas opens the 2017 season Aug. 31 in Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium.

Head coach Bret Bielema confirmed as much Monday, according to Clay Henry of Whole Hog Sports, saying the plans for the new locker room have yet to be even be finalized.

“We just aren’t going to be able to use anything in the north end zone this season,” Bielema said. “I have not heard anyone say that it will be any way usable. There have never been any plans to use it this season. It just can’t be ready. We haven’t even finalized plans for it.”

While the new locker rooms won’t be ready in time for the coming season, the school has wisely decided to wire the new area for future technological advancements, even if the use of that technology is currently illegal. Of particular interest to Arkansas is the use of video footage at halftime.

The way Bielema sees it, in case that technology becomes legal in the future, he wants to be sure his team can take advantage of the rule immediately without any additional installation process.

“They had rules where they were going to let you use more technology and video at halftime,” Bielema said. “That rule got vetoed recently. No technology can be used in your locker room. But we are still going to wire it for it. That might change down the line.”

Tennessee unveiled plans to create the largest such halftime video room last offseason before the NCAA banned the use of halftime video as an unfair advantage for visiting teams. While the halftime video room may not be currently allowed, the Razorbacks are considering other useful ways to utilize the state-of-the-art facility upon its completion.

“We know that we are going to have a state-of-the-art locker room. One thing we are planning for, how to utilize it for recruiting as far as getting tape of the celebrations,” Bielema said. “What we’ve had was so tight as far as the space, we couldn’t have crews in there taping in the past. That will happen going forward in how we will set it up.”