Powers Field at Princeton Stadium is a

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 ...

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

United States 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 territorie ...

. It is primarily used for

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

, and has been the

home field In sports, home is the place and venue identified with a team sport. Most professional teams are named for, and marketed to, particular metropolitan areas; amateur teams may be drawn from a particular region, or from institutions such as sch ...

of the

Princeton Tigers The Princeton Tigers are the athletic teams of Princeton University. The school sponsors 35 varsity teams in 20 sports. The school has won several NCAA national championships, including one in men's fencing, three in women's lacrosse, six in m ...

since 1998. The stadium

seats A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair, a chair equ ...

27,773. Since 2007, the playing surface has been known as Powers Field at Princeton Stadium. Princeton Stadium was viewed as a long-overdue replacement for

Palmer Stadium Palmer Stadium was a stadium in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. It hosted the Princeton University Tigers football team, as well as the track and field team. The stadium held 45,750 people at its peak and was opened in 1914 with a game ag ...

, the Tigers' former home, an 83-year-old "dinosaur". It sits on the same site as its predecessor; because of the demolition and construction work, the Tigers played all of their 1997 games on the road. The stadium opened September 19, 1998, as a capacity crowd of 27,800 witnessed the Tigers defeat Cornell, 6-0.

Design

The stadium's exterior shell mirrors the layout of Palmer Stadium, and the grandstands are four sided, with a second deck added on all sides except the south. The

press box The press box is a special section of a sports stadium or arena that is set up for the media to report about a given event. It is typically located in the section of the stadium holding the luxury box and can be either enclosed or open to the e ...

and luxury boxes are located above the west-side upper deck. One of the stadium's structural pillars houses the university's rock-climbing wall, which opened in the fall of 2008. In addition to the stadium itself, the construction project included building a track to the immediate south of the football field, which shares the stadium's south end facilities. Previously, the track was inside the stadium. For most of its first decade, Princeton Stadium had a natural grass surface. Since 2006, the facility has featured FieldTurf. The heightened resiliency of the artificial surface allows the football team to conduct its spring practice in the stadium. Princeton's

sprint football Sprint football, formerly called lightweight football, is a varsity sport played by United States colleges and universities, under standard American football rules. As of the 2022 season, the sport is governed by the Collegiate Sprint Football ...

team holds most of its practices inside the stadium, while the football team holds practices on the neighboring Campbell and Finney fields.

Naming

While under construction, the stadium was referred to simply as "Princeton University Stadium", as the university hoped an alumnus would step forward to purchase the naming rights for a "leadership gift" of at least $25 million. Princeton officials said they would not name the stadium after a corporation, but considered honoring a Princeton graduate in exchange for a donation to be in keeping with their naming standards for other university buildings. Naming rights remained unsold by the time the stadium opened in September 1998, though the stadium's name was shortened to "Princeton Stadium" in time for the first football game. The offer to name the stadium after a donor still applied. Though the stadium's name did not change, the playing field was dedicated as Powers Field in 2007 to honor investor William C. Powers, whose $10 million donation funded the installation of artificial FieldTurf in 2006, as well as renovations of two practice fields. Powers, a 1979 graduate of Princeton, was a standout defensive back and punter for the Tigers.

Records

Since the stadium's opening, only two Princeton Tigers have rushed for over 200 yards in a single game at home: Cameron Atkinson ran for 233 yards against Dartmouth on November 23, 2002, and all-Ivy junior running back Jordan Culbreath rushed for 276 yards against Dartmouth on November 22, 2008.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 40.345755, -74.65003, type:landmark, display=title Princeton University buildings Princeton Tigers football College football venues American football venues in New Jersey Sports venues in New Jersey 1998 establishments in New Jersey Sports venues completed in 1998 College soccer venues in the United States Soccer venues in New Jersey Rafael Viñoly buildings

Design

Naming

Records

See also

References

External links