E. Claiborne Robins Stadium is an 8,217-seat

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

at the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

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. It is home to the

Richmond Spiders The Richmond Spiders represent the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia. The Spiders compete in the Division I FCS of the National Collegiate Athletic Association as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference for most sports. The Spider na ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse, women's soccer, and women's track and field teams. The men's soccer team played there until 2012, when the university discontinued the program.

History

Known for many years as the Soccer/Track Complex, the original 2,000-seat facility was renamed First Market Stadium in 2001 following a sponsorship from First Market Bank (now Atlantic Union Bank). In 2002, the stadium's track was completely rebuilt. In 2003, it was named the Fred Hardy Track in honor of the longtime Spiders coach. The playing surface was changed from natural grass to FieldTurf, an

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commer ...

, in 2004. Due to the age and off-campus location of City Stadium, where the

Richmond Spiders football Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

team played its home games, demand grew for an on-campus football facility. The university and donors committed more than $25 million to a renovation of First Market Stadium, including a $5 million grant from the Robins Foundation in early 2008. Renovations on the stadium began on December 20, 2008, coincidentally the day after the Spiders football team won the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

NCAA Division I Football Championship The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an annual post-season college football game, played since 2006, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). From 1978 to 2005, the game was kn ...

– the school's first national title in any sport. On September 16, 2009, the stadium was renamed E. Claiborne Robins Stadium to honor the legacy of E. Claiborne Robins Sr and his historic philanthropy to the school. The football team began play at Robins Stadium in the 2010 season, they won their first game 27-21 in overtime over

Elon University Elon University is a private university in Elon, North Carolina. Founded in 1889 as Elon College, Elon is organized into six schools, most of which offer bachelor's degrees and several of which offer master's degrees or professional doctorate d ...

Attendance records

References

{{Richmond Sports College football venues College lacrosse venues in the United States College soccer venues in the United States Richmond Spiders football Richmond Spiders men's soccer American football venues in Virginia Lacrosse venues in the United States Multi-purpose stadiums in the United States Soccer venues in Virginia Sports venues completed in 2010 2010 establishments in Virginia

History

Attendance records

See also

References