James J. Fitzpatrick Stadium is a 6,000 seat multi-purpose outdoor

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

, United States. It is located between Interstate 295,

Hadlock Field Hadlock Field is a minor league baseball stadium in Portland, Maine. It is primarily home to the Portland Sea Dogs of the Eastern League but also the Portland High School Bulldogs and Deering High School Rams baseball teams. The stadium is nam ...

baseball stadium, King Middle School, and the

Portland Exposition Building The Portland Exposition Building, also known as The Expo, is a sports and exhibition venue (convention center) building complex in Portland, Maine. The complex includes five inter-connected buildings with 24,000 square feet of exhibition space a ...

. It is located across the street from Deering Oaks. Formerly known as Portland Stadium, it was renamed in 1989 to honor James J. Fitzpatrick, one of the most respected figures in Maine athletic history.

Renovations

In 2001, the stadium underwent a $1.4 million renovation project that included replacing the grass with FieldTurf, a new rubberized track and rest rooms. In November 2010, a $950,000 renovation project began to replace the bleachers. Modeled after Memorial Stadium at

Deering High School Deering High School (DHS) is a public high school in Portland, Maine, United States. The school is part of the Portland Public Schools district. It is one of the three public high schools located in Portland, the others being Portland High Scho ...

, the bleachers hold 3,800 seats on the home side and 2,500 seats on the away side and have a dark blue backing in honor of Portland High School's colors. The Portland High School Bulldogs is the primary tenant. The city of Portland is paying for renovation out of the capital improvement fund.

Events

Fitzpatrick Stadium is the home field for the Portland High School Bulldogs, Southern Maine Raging Bulls, and Maine Tomcats of the New England Football League, state high school football championships, City of Portland high schools lacrosse league, Maine Elite Men's Lacrosse League, 2005 state high school lacrosse championship, and Maine Senior Games. The facility has also occasionally hosted

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a public land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the flagship university of the University of Maine System. It is classifie ...

Black Bears football games and local and high school

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

and track events. It was formerly home to the

Portland Pilots The Portland Pilots is the nickname for athletics at the University of Portland. The Pilots compete in the West Coast Conference (WCC) at the NCAA Division I level. History The Pilots started to gain attention when Clive Charles began coach ...

from 1946 to 1949. In 1960, Democratic presidential nominee

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

spoke at Portland Stadium as part of his presidential campaign.

References

External links

''Fitzy''FieldTurf chosen to replace grass at Fitzpatrick Stadium
American football venues in Maine Sports venues in Portland, Maine High school football venues in the United States Maine Black Bears football Lacrosse venues in the United States Soccer venues in Maine College football venues {{Maine-sports-venue-stub