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COLUMBIA FIELD HOCKEY STADIUM
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QUICK FACTS
Official Name: Columbia Field Hockey Stadium
Date Opened: 2006
Seating Capacity: 500
Surface/Structure: State-of-the-art Desso Sportilux SV 37 “water-based” polypropylene turf
Location: Baker Athletics Complex, Inwood-Manhattan, New York City
Original Cost: $500,000
Address: 505 West 218th Street, New York, N.Y. 10034
First Field Hockey Game: September 8, 2006, vs. Cornell
THE FACILITY
The Columbia Field Hockey Stadium at Baker Athletics Complex debuted in 2006 and was officially dedicated during the 2007 season. In 2010, it was resurfaced to provide a first-class playing surface for Columbia’s field hockey team.
Field hockey became a full-fledged NCAA Division I varsity sport at Columbia during the fall of 1996. At that point in time, Columbia played its games at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium. The current field hockey pitch was built when the installation of FieldTurf in Lawrence A. Wien Stadium in 2005 rendered the field unsuitable for field hockey. Once installed, the field features a state-of-the-art synthetic polypropylene surface. Columbia is the only school in the nation to have a polypropylene surface solely intended for field hockey.
The 2024 season will mark the field hockey program’s 27th as an NCAA Division I level sport.
As part of Columbia’s Baker Athletics Complex, located at the corner of 218th Street and Broadway Avenue at the northern tip of Manhattan, the Columbia Field Hockey Stadium is at the center of Columbia’s Baker Athletics Complex. The field is surrounded by Columbia’s athletic facilities including Campbell Sports Center, Chrystie Field House, Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium, Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium and Robertson Field at Satow Stadium.
The tract of land on which the Baker Athletics Complex stands was purchased for the University on December 30, 1921 by financier George F. Baker. Then a $700,000 gift, the 26-acre area was dedicated in April, 1922 and hosted spring football practice that same year. In the fall, Columbia's football team continued to practice uptown but played its games at South Field on the Morningside Heights Campus. The first stadium at the site, then known as Baker Field, opened in the fall of 1923 with 15,000 seats in temporary stands. Five years later, the University built the 32,000 wooden-seat stadium that served Columbia fans for 55 years, until the spring of 1983.
Baker has been upgraded several times since 2005, including state-of-the-art surfaces for all of Columbia's teams that compete at Baker Athletics Complex. Columbia's baseball, field hockey, softball and soccer teams all play on sport-specific surfaces for their respective sports.
COLUMBIA FIELD HOCKEY STADIUM AMENITIES
- Competition home for Columbia field hockey team
- State-of-the-art synthetic polypropylene surface installed in 2005
- Stadium lighting for night games
- Press Box at midfield
- State-of-the-art sprinkler and drainage system
- Bleacher seating
- Daktronics scoreboard
- Access to Chrystie Field House (locker rooms, training room, equipment room)
- Access to Campbell Sports Center (team meeting rooms, weight room, coaches’ offices)
