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Rutgers Stadium is the home stadium for the football program at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. It is located in the Busch Campus of Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey, USA, and overlooks the Raritan River. Rutgers Stadium was opened on September 3, 1994[1] when the Rutgers Scarlet Knights hosted the Kent State University Golden Flashes. Rutgers Stadium seats 52,454 spectators.
[edit] History The first intercollegiate football game, in which Rutgers beat Princeton by a score of 6-4 on 6 November 1869, was played on College Field, which is now the location of the College Avenue Gymnasium and its parking lot.[2] From 1891 to 1938 the Rutgers football team played at Neilson Field on the College Avenue Campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey.[2] (That field was across College Avenue from College Field, and the site is now occupied by the Brower Commons, Records Hall, and the College Ave. Parking Deck.) With the aid of grants from the Works Progress Administration, and after three years of construction, the original Rutgers Stadium was completed in 1938.[3] The stadium was dedicated on November 5, 1938[3] and served the university's football program until 1992, hosting 225 football games.[citation needed] The current Rutgers Stadium was built on the site of the original Rutgers Stadium. During the construction of the second, and current, Rutgers Stadium, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team played the 1993 season at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, a facility operated by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA). The NJSEA financed the construction of the current Rutgers Stadium through a bond issue.[1] The Scarlet Knights had previously played several games at Giants Stadium, including the first college football game hosted at that venue: a 47-0 victory over Columbia University on October 23, 1976.[4] Heralded by many newspapers, sports writers, and Rutgers fans as the "most important game in Rutgers history", on 9 November 2006, a then record crowd of 44,111[5] attended a football game between the Scarlet Knights and the Louisville Cardinals. The Scarlet Knights were ranked #15 and the Louisville Cardinals #3 in the nation in the Associated Press poll at the time. The game drew the third ESPN's third-largest audience for a college football game.[6] The usual official capacity was exceeded by the addition of bleachers for extra student seating in the Southern end of the stadium, as well as by moving the marching band from their usual spot in the stands to temporary bleachers in the corner of the North end zone. At the next home game, against the Syracuse Orange on 25 November 2006, Rutgers Stadium posted its second largest crowd with 43,791 in attendance.[5] [edit] Other events hostedIn addition to football, Rutgers Stadium has also hosted NCAA tournament soccer and lacrosse games, including the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship games in 1998, 2001, and 2002. It is also worth noting that, prior to 1994, the original Rutgers Stadium hosted the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship games in 1974, 1978, 1983, 1987 and 1990. On 25 September 2005, Rutgers Stadium was the site of a lecture delivered by the Dalai Lama.[7] Every first weekend in December, Rutgers Stadium plays hosts to several championship games in the NJSIAA state football playoffs. The stadium is one of two venues that hosts multiple championship games in one weekend (Giants Stadium is the other). However, unlike Giants Stadium that hosts games on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons, Rutgers hosts games on Sunday in addition to its Friday and Saturday games (Giants Stadium is unavailable for Sunday games due to its NFL commitments). [edit] Attendance records The stadium attendance records were repeatedly broken in the 2006 and 2007 football seasons, with the record number of spectators from those seasons being 44,267.[5] This record was set on October 18, 2007, when the Scarlet Knights played against the then #2 ranked South Florida Bulls.[8] This record was broken in the 2009 season opener against the Cincinnati Bearcats with the attendance of the first game at the newly renovated stadim totaling 53,737 fans.[9] [edit] Current facilitiesThe Rutgers Stadium provides seating for 52,454 spectators.[10] The stadium features a 5,000-seat upper deck on each side of the field, as well as 968 loge and club seats on the mezzanine level of the East side of the stadium.[10] Electronic ribbonboards spanning the length of the field have been installed at the bases of both upper decks prior to the start of the 2008 season, which compliment the video scoreboard in the South end zone. The stadium also features light stanchions that allow for night games, a two-level press box on the West mezzanine level, a cannon for firing when Rutgers scores[11], eight 1,000-square-foot (93 m2) concession stands[10], and restrooms. Until 2004, the field maintained a grass surface, but has since been replaced with Field Turf.[10] [edit] Stadium expansionIn January 2008, the Board of Governors of Rutgers University announced a $102 million stadium expansion project in order to increase the stadium’s seating capacity to nearly 56,000.[12] However, the scale of the project has since been reduced, resulting in a new maximum capacity of precisely 52,454.[13] The first phase of the project, which included 968 club seats, and related infrastructure, was completed on time and within budget for the 2008 football season.[14] The second phase of construction has also commenced, and has added approximately 11,500 seats, restrooms and concession stands to the south end of the stadium.[14] There is a new scoreboard, which is 38' tall by 112' wide, for a total surface area of 4,256 sq ft.[15] The old scoreboard (since demolished) was 22' tall by 30' wide, for a total surface area of 660 sq ft. The sound system will also be enhanced as a part of the expansion. On July 14, 2009, the Rutgers Board of Governors unanimously approved a $5 million donation specifically appropriated for a recruiting lounge in the newly expanded endzone. The lounge had been included in the original expansion design, but was deferred after the Board of Governors revised the expansion financing plan. The donation was provided by two Rutgers alumni. The lounge will be named after one of the donors, Greg Brown, who is the President and Co-CEO of Motorola. The second donor requested anonymity. Construction on the lounge will commence in August 2009, with a scheduled completion date set for December of that same year.[16] [edit] Expansion financing planThe $102 million cost of the stadium expansion project was originally to be financed by raising $30 million through private fundraising and $72 million by the issuance of Rutgers bonds.[17] The private fundraising effort, however, fell significantly short of the original goal.[18] This situation prompted the Board of Governors of Rutgers University to approve a new financing plan for the stadium expansion in which the entire amount of $102 million will be borrowed. Specifically, the university will issue $85 million in bonds, and has borrowed the remaining $17 million by way of low-interest commercial paper.[14] In addition, a few aspects of the stadium expansion project have been scaled back, e.g., approximately 12,500 new seats are to be added instead of the original plan for 14,000, and the addition of new locker rooms is being deferred to a later date.[14] [edit] See also
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