The Clarence T. C. Ching Athletics Complex, located on the campus of the

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa The University of Hawaii at Mānoa (University of Hawaii—Mānoa, UH Mānoa, Hawai'i, or simply UH) is a public land-grant research university in Mānoa, a neighborhood in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is the flagship campus of the University of Haw ...

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, features a three-story building next to an all-purpose track and Clarence T. C. Ching Field. The facility, built in 2015, includes locker rooms and a meeting room for Hawaii beach volleyball, cross country, women's soccer and track and field teams. The university's

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

also utilizes the facility for practices, and it became the team’s temporary stadium starting in

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. The stadium has a seating capacity of 9,300, which will expand to 17,000 in 2023.

History

The complex replaced the university's former sports facility, Cooke Field, following a $5 million donation from the foundation established by Hawaii real estate developer Clarence T.C. Ching (1912–1985). This was a record donation for the university's athletics program. This donation was intended to cover half the estimated $10 million cost of the development, due to open in 2013. However, project delays mean the complex ran 60% over budget and did not open until 2015. The remainder of the budget was covered by the university and the state of Hawaii. The delay led to threats from the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) to decertify the institution's athletic department, given the lack of women's sports facilities. A key aspect of the new complex was to better serve

women's athletics Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and racewalking. The results of ...

at Manoa, in particular the women's soccer team which previously played on a non-NCAA-compliant field.

Uses

The athletics complex serves as the home field for the university's women's soccer team. It also has a 778-seat beach volleyball venue with two competition courts, used by the university's beach volleyball team. The venue also serves as a cross country course. The field and its surrounding track function as the outdoor

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

facility for the university.

College football

The complex normally serves as the practice facility for the university's

. In December 2020, issues with Aloha Stadium (home venue of the football team since

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

) led to that venue halting the scheduling of new events. As a result, the team announced plans to play home games on campus at the athletics complex "for at least the next three years". Prior to the

season, the university prepared the complex for home football games, including increasing seating capacity, replace the existing turf, installing a new scoreboard and speaker system and upgrading the press box. The NCAA requires football programs to "average at least 15,000 in actual or paid attendance for all home football contests over a two-year rolling period" to remain at the

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

(FBS) level. The initial expansion included 9,000 seats for the 2021 season, with plans to expand to 15,000 for the

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season, which will reach the FBS minimum. The expansion to 15,000 was delayed until 2023 due to effects stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced Hawaii football to play behind closed doors or with a limited capacity for the first half of their 2021 home schedule. Matlin formally announced a plan to expand to 17,000 for the 2023 season. It was presented to the University of Hawaii Board of Regents on August 17, 2022, and was unanimously approved a day later.

History

Uses

College football

See also