The Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium is a 3,500 seat

soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-pu ...

located in Inwood, on the northernmost tip of the island of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, within the Baker Athletic Complex. The stadium is named in honor of Rocco B. Commisso, former co-captain of Columbia's 1970 varsity soccer team, current owner and Chairman of the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independe ...

and

ACF Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

, and the head of cable television provider

Mediacom Mediacom Communications Corporation is the United States' fifth largest cable television provider based on the number of video subscribers, and among the leading cable operators focused on serving smaller cities and towns. The company has a s ...

History

Opened in 1985, it is home to the

Columbia Lions The Columbia University Lions are the collective athletic teams and their members from Columbia University, an Ivy League institution in New York City, United States. The current director of athletics is Peter Pilling. Ivy League athletics Th ...

men's and women's soccer teams of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and Old Blue RFC of

USA Rugby Club 7s The USA Rugby Club 7s National Championship is the top annual American rugby sevens competition organized by USA Rugby USA Rugby (officially the United States of America Rugby Football Union, Ltd.) is the national governing body for the spor ...

and American Rugby Premiership. In September 1997, the stadium hosted a semi-final match of the

1997 U.S. Open Cup The 1997 U.S. Open Cup ran from June through October, 1997, open to all soccer teams in the United States. Major League Soccer club Dallas Burn prevailed over defending-champion D.C. United, winning 5-3 on penalty kicks after battling to a sco ...

between the MetroStars and the

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Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

. From May to July 2015, the stadium was the part-time home of the

New York Red Bulls II New York Red Bulls II is an American professional soccer team based in Montclair, New Jersey. They are the reserve team of the New York Red Bulls and play in MLS Next Pro, the third tier in the American soccer pyramid. History Red Bull New Yo ...

of the

United Soccer League Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

where they played only one home match. In 2016, a new FieldTurf surface was installed at the stadium. In 2017, the University opened the "Bubble at Baker", a heated seasonal

air-supported structure An air-supported (or air-inflated) structure is any building that derives its structural integrity from the use of internal pressurized air to inflate a pliable material (i.e. structural fabric) envelope, so that air is the main support of the str ...

. The Bubble encloses the soccer field and provides of winter practice space for Columbia's sports teams. The Bubble will be inflated each winter from December through March. The stadium is adjacent to

Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium, officially known as Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium at Baker Athletics Complex, is a stadium in the Inwood neighborhood at the northern tip of the island of Manhattan, New Y ...

and the

Campbell Sports Center The Campbell Sports Center, a Columbia University's Baker Field Athletics Complex, is designed by Steven Holl and senior partner Chris McVoy. Sited on the corner of West 218th street and Broadway, the Campbell Sports Center aims to form an inviti ...

Transformation to COVID field hospital

In response to the

COVID-19 pandemic in New York City The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City was confirmed on March 1, 2020, though later research showed that the novel coronavirus had been circulating in New York City since January, with cases of community transmission confirme ...

NewYork-Presbyterian The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools, Cornell University and Columbia University. The hospital comprises seven distinct campuses located in the New ...

Columbia University Irving Medical Center NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center (NYP/CUIMC), also known as the Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), is an academic medical center and the largest campus of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. It includes Co ...

turned Robert K. Kraft Field and Columbia Soccer Stadium into a 288-bed field hospital. The field hospital is named for decorated

US Navy SEAL The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Ryan F. Larkin (1987–2017), who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Kate Kemplin, head nurse of the operation, described Larkin as "exactly the kind of person who would have set up a tent to treat patients, if he were alive today." The care center will be staffed primarily with former US military personnel in conjunction with NewYork-Presbyterian’s frontline staff.

References

External links

Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium
Columbia Lions soccer Inwood, Manhattan College soccer venues in the United States Multi-purpose stadiums in the United States Rugby union stadiums in New York City Soccer venues in New York City Sports venues in Manhattan Sports venues completed in 1985 1985 establishments in New York City {{NYC-sport-stub