Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium is the main stadium for
Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system's ...
in Stony Brook,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
,
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 ...
. Construction began in 2000 at a cost of approximately $22 million. With a capacity of 12,300 people (10,300 seating and 2,000 standing), it is the largest outdoor facility in Suffolk County. The stadium is home to the Division I
Stony Brook Seawolves The Stony Brook Seawolves are the athletic teams of Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York, United States. The school competes at the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and joined the all-sports Colonial At ...
and their
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 soccer, women's soccer, men's lacrosse, and
women's lacrosse Women's lacrosse (or girls' lacrosse), sometimes shortened to lax, is a sport with twelve players on the field at a time (including the goalkeeper). Originally played by indigenous peoples of the Americas, the modern women's game was introduce ...
teams. The stadium opened on September 14, 2002. It was named in honor of New York state senator
Kenneth LaValle Kenneth P. LaValle (born May 22, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York) is a former American politician. He represented District 1 in the New York State Senate. The district comprises the five East End towns of Long Island, New York, as well as the central ...
on October 19, 2002. LaValle played a key role in the development and creation of the stadium. The stadium consists of a three-tier press box on the east side, as well as six luxury suites, a press box, television and radio booths, and a camera deck on the roof. Its most recent expansion came in 2017, with the addition of 2,000 seats in the north end zone and a new concessions and restrooms facility. LaValle Stadium has hosted the 2006 and 2010
NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship The NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament determines the annual top men's field lacrosse team in the NCAA Division I. This tournament has determined the national champion since the inaugural 1971 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse ...
quarterfinals, as well as the 2011, 2012 and 2018
NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship The annual NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship tournament has determined the top women's lacrosse team in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I since 1982. The Maryland Terrapins women's lacrosse, ...
final fours and title games. LaValle Stadium was listed at No. 22 on a 2012 ''
Yahoo! Sports Yahoo! Sports is a sports news website launched by Yahoo! on December 8, 1997. It receives a majority of its information from STATS, Inc. It employs numerous writers, and has team pages for teams in almost every North American major sport. Bef ...
'' list of "College Football's Top 25 Toughest Places to Play".


History

As Stony Brook planned its transition to Division I from Division III, a new football stadium was immediately deemed necessary to replace Seawolves Field, a 1,000-seat bleacher stadium with muddy sinkholes that had existed since 1984. The first proposal in 1994 called for a $4 million multi-use stadium for football and lacrosse. However, 500 professors petitioned Governor
Mario Cuomo Mario Matthew Cuomo (, ; June 15, 1932 – January 1, 2015) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd governor of New York for three terms, from 1983 to 1994. A member of the Democratic Party, Cuomo previously served as t ...
to stop the stadium from being built along with Stony Brook's transition to Division I, because they worried a new stadium would add more traffic to the
Three Villages The Three Villages ( mt, It-Tliet Irħula) refers to the Maltese villages of Attard, Balzan, and Lija, which are around the centre of the island. The Three Villages are known as such because of their close proximity to one another. In some cases o ...
, attract a rowdy crowd on weekends and take money from academic programs. Construction on a new stadium began in 2000. Originally slated to cost $12 million, the final structure cost $22 million and was fully supported by Stony Brook president
Shirley Strum Kenny Shirley Strum Kenny (born 1934) is an English scholar and retired university president. Kenny was the fourth president of Stony Brook University from 1994 until the end of the 2008-2009 academic year. She was the first woman to hold that positi ...
, who said she was "serious about the athletic program, serious about Division I", and expected Stony Brook to became "important" and "a contender." Seawolves Stadium opened on September 14, 2002 as the Stony Brook Seawolves football team faced the St. John's Red Storm in Stony Brook's first game as a Division I program. Stony Brook won 34–9, and the opening kickoff was returned for a touchdown by the Seawolves. At the time of its opening, the 8,136-seat stadium was the largest in Suffolk County, a record that is still held today. On October 19, 2002, the date of Stony Brook's Homecoming game against
Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devo ...
, the stadium was renamed the Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium in honor of New York state senator Kenneth P. LaValle, a key figure in the development and creation of the $22 million facility. Before its opening, the Stony Brook Director of Marketing and Promotions for Athletics had opened up the possibility of renaming the stadium for a corporate partnership or a former president of Stony Brook University. The stadium's name has been the subject of numerous controversies, including in 2009 after LaValle voted against the legalization of gay marriage in New York and in 2019 when LaValle voted against a ban on gay conversion therapy.


Expansions

In October 2012, Stony Brook University allocated $5.7 million for the addition of at least 2,000 seats to LaValle Stadium, bringing the seating capacity from 8,300 to 10,300, with a standing capacity of 2,000 bringing the stadium's total capacity to 12,300. New York governor
Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...
vetoed a $22 million upgrade to the stadium in 2015, money which was originally allocated for a "computational biomedicine visualization and drug development magnet facility." The Senate had attempted to change the usage of the funds in the state budget as the intended programs no longer existed. An expansion was completed in the summer of 2017 and added 2,000 seats in the north end zone, as well as a new concessions and restrooms facility. Before the 2018 season, a new turf field was installed in LaValle Stadium, also adding red end zones and a new midfield logo.


Events hosted

In October 2005, LaValle Stadium was chosen to be the host site for the two North Region contests in the 2006 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament, with both of the games aired on
ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...
. It was the first time that Stony Brook had hosted any NCAA postseason championship even since the program's move to Division I in 1999. A sold-out crowd of 8,335 attended the events. Stony Brook was again chosen to host the North Region games in the 2011 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament quarterfinals. A sold-out crowd of 10,024 watched the
2010 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship The 2010 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship was the 40th annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national championship for National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college lacrosse. Sixteen teams w ...
quarterfinals at LaValle Stadium, where No. 8-seeded Stony Brook fell 10–9 to No. 1-seeded Virginia, falling one goal short of the Final Four. LaValle Stadium first hosted the Final Four and championship game of the NCAA women's lacrosse tournament in 2011, after three consecutive seasons of being held at
Towson University Towson University (TU or Towson) is a public university in Towson, Maryland. Founded in 1866 as Maryland's first training school for teachers, Towson University is a part of the University System of Maryland. Since its founding, the university h ...
's
Johnny Unitas Stadium Johnny Unitas Stadium is a multi-purpose sports stadium in Towson, Maryland, United States. The home of several Towson University athletics teams, it is also known as Minnegan Field at Johnny Unitas Stadium or Unitas Stadium. History The stadiu ...
. A crowd of 8,011 witnessed Northwestern beat Maryland in the title game. The event resulted in 20,000 people visiting the Stony Brook region and $100,000 in hotel revenue. Stony Brook was chosen to host the 2012 Final Four as well. The Final Four returned to Stony Brook in 2018. LaValle Stadium was set to host three games of the 2020
Premier Lacrosse League Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) is an American professional field lacrosse league, composed of 8 teams. The league's inaugural season debuted on June 1, 2019, and included a 14-week tour-based schedule taking place in 12 major-market cities. The le ...
(PLL) season, including a nationally televised game on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
in June, but due to the
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
pandemic, the league held its season in a bubble in Utah instead.


Attendance records

The most attended game in Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium history occurred on October 5, 2019, when 12,812 showed up for a Homecoming game against
James Madison James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for hi ...
in which Stony Brook lost, 45–38, in overtime. Asterisks indicate Homecoming games.


See also

*
List of NCAA Division I FCS football stadiums The following is a list of current National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) football stadiums in the United States. Conference affiliations reflect those for the comin ...


References


External links


Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium
{{New York college football venues American football venues in New York (state) College football venues College lacrosse venues in the United States College soccer venues in the United States Lacrosse venues in New York (state) Soccer venues in the New York metropolitan area Stony Brook Seawolves football Sports venues in Suffolk County, New York Sports venues completed in 2002 2002 establishments in New York (state)