PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) The City Council has cleared the way for construction of a 6,000-seat, $10 million stadium and athletics building for Colorado State-Pueblo’s return to intercollegiate football next year.

The school will play in the Division II Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

CSU-Pueblo dropped football in a 1985 reorganization. The Colorado State University System Board of Governors approved reviving the program in May, along with wrestling and women’s track.

The City Council on Monday approved an amendment to an annexation measure the university sought as part of the stadium project.

“I hope you have a 100-member band and 12 cheerleaders and everything that makes football fun, because this will bring more students to the university,” Councilman Ray Aguilera told CSU-Pueblo President Joe Garcia.

John Wristen, an all-conference quarterback at CSU-Pueblo when it was the University of Southern Colorado, has been named head coach. He was previously an assistant coach at Northwestern, Colorado and UCLA.

CSU-Pueblo’s home opener is scheduled for Sept. 6, 2008, against Oklahoma Panhandle State.

RMAC also includes Adams State, Colorado Christian, Colorado Mines, Fort Lewis, Mesa State, Metro State, Regis, Colorado-Colorado Springs and Western State in Colorado; Chadron State and Nebraska-Kearney in Nebraska; and New Mexico Highlands and Western New Mexico.