Schoellkopf Field needs to be upgraded to Ivy standards.

It's been a fun year to follow Big Red athletics. Despite the loss to Penn this past Friday evening in the ILT, it was a nice crowd and beautiful evening for college lacrosse. One thing I noticed at halftime is the Penn lacrosse team used the south end-zone for their team meeting, which was not a good reflection on Cornell. I love ESPN + and ESPNU as it allows fans to follow their favorite Ivy League and other college teams. This academic year, whether following football or lacrosse it's quite obvious the other seven Ivy League schools have nicer and more functional stadiums than Cornell. Several Ivies even have their own designated lacrosse stadiums. However, Cornell doesn't need another stadium, but Schoellkopf Field needs to be upgraded if we want to remain competitive and at least up to "Ivy League" standards.

For example, on Friday evening there were construction grade do not enter ropes around the upper half of the crescent, but during the football season they at least had a nice red Cornell canvas over that section. Although some of you posters may not agree, the West side of the stadium where the West Stands (which the City of Ithaca condemned and were torn down) is now an ugly parking garage and also looks like a construction site. On Sunday, the TV cameras kept pointing to that side and it really looks ugly. On top of that, some fans were watching the game from the parking garage, again not a good look.

This season during the Syracuse lacrosse game, some of their fans were heckling again on the sad state of Schoellkopf Field. It's a once beautiful historic stadium (1915) and is used for not only athletics but other events like freshman orientation, graduation, etc. and it's so upsetting to see the facility in such disrepair! Even if we no longer draw large crowds, we still do not have enough seats for graduation! My suggestion is to at least build a multi-purpose locker room on the West Side, add a smaller say 1,500 seat grandstand above and in front, adorned with the eight Ivy League flags and some nice landscaping. We could even bring some home soccer games back to the facility. In closing Schoellkopf Field is the only on-campus stadium we have and it's time to bring the facility back up to Ivy League standards.

Schoellkopf Field fills only for graduation and for fireworks (Homecoming Friday, sometimes in summer). The rest of the time, 5,000 would do it for current Cornell football, maybe 10,000 for the Harvard or Princeton game if it determined the Ivy title.

If you wish for X-many changes at Schoellkopf, you may get Cornell thinking about how cool it would be to move the entire facility to the Game Farm Road / East Hill Car Wash area.

Cornell could improve the Schoellkopf fan experience by removing the asphalt that replaced the 440-yard track, butt the field up against the Schoellkopf wall, and than fill in the bigger west-side space with lockers, offices, maybe a party deck rooftop seating for 500, possibly covered, which is the max you'd get on some cold, rainy game nights for soccer and lax. That and the pressbox up there.

I'm not sure how much President Pollock would want to see $10 million (?) go to that amount of work for sports when Cornell tries to keep pace with HYP and Columbia on the academic side. We will see if the new athletic director has a knack for fundraising.

We do have a second on-campus stadium (small stadium) in Berman Field, the one way at the far end of Upper Alumni Fields, ~1,000 seats, lights. It also had the running track, so fans aren't as close up as they are at the other Ivies' non-football fields. The fan experience also suffers IMO because the seats don't rise up much. Ideally, the first row should be high enough to have players on the sidelines block the view. I believe soccer would continue to play there because it's a field built flat (with lots of drainage) and with the original turf field, that is, one made of grass.

I believe Yale's Reese stadium (3,000 seats) is for both lacrosse and soccer.

Soccer would never ditch Berman in its current state for turf. Soccer is much better played on a grass. I don’t know think Schoellkopf needs major renovations but it does look a bit run down.

You could also put build something in the south end (scoreboard) of the stadium. Right now it’s a dumping ground for the football practice sleds etc which looks sloppy, and could be easily stored away in basically a shed. Could add a visiting locker room for not a ton of money. Could even add viewing area.

Cornell could easily add a 3,000 square foot multi-purpose locker-room and 1,500 seats with a retractable water proof awning with eight flag poles on the west side for $5MM or less. This is Ithaca NY where the cost of construction for Upstate NY in general averages about $300 to $500 per square foot. Worst case $1.5MM for the locker rooms and another $1.5MM for the grandstands, tops. I have already priced grandstands in the 1,500 to 1,700 seat range which are just under $1MM, so we're not talking big bucks. Maybe $200K for the awning and flag poles. Our golf club has a huge retractable awning they use for summer weddings etc. OK, add on another $1.3MM for the usual Cornell wasteful spending and you're at $5MM. The rest of the world does not spend for construction costs what they do in the NYC or Boston metro area.

Berman Field while nice is not exactly a stadium as it doesn't even have a press box. Reese Field (3000 seats on both sides) at Yale is Field Turf too. It would be nice to host a couple of soccer games a year at Schoellkopf again. Even some MLS teams play on Turf. All I am saying is Schoellkopf Field is a center piece of our campus, it's our most widely used outdoor revenue, and it's time to bring the facility back up to the rest of the Ivy League.

By the way..............just to add some of the Penn players on Friday evening had to pee in the woods at halftime. Really?????

The stadium looks kind of run down on television. For instance, you can see rust on the steel posts that are attached to the concrete structure. There are lots of great products now that rehabilitate concrete. It could do for major makeover.

Local Motion
By the way..............just to add some of the Penn players on Friday evening had to pee in the woods at halftime. Really?????

Yeah, really. They understand it would be poor taste to pee on the Fieldturf.

You've never played HS sports where you didn't get a little bit into the woods, enough to make you feel semi-invisible when you turn your back on the field and spectators? It is something where male athletes have a slight advantage, if only because of less risk of poison ivy.

Local Motion
It's been a fun year to follow Big Red athletics. Despite the loss to Penn this past Friday evening in the ILT, it was a nice crowd and beautiful evening for college lacrosse. One thing I noticed at halftime is the Penn lacrosse team used the south end-zone for their team meeting, which was not a good reflection on Cornell. I love ESPN + and ESPNU as it allows fans to follow their favorite Ivy League and other college teams. This academic year, whether following football or lacrosse it's quite obvious the other seven Ivy League schools have nicer and more functional stadiums than Cornell. Several Ivies even have their own designated lacrosse stadiums. However, Cornell doesn't need another stadium, but Schoellkopf Field needs to be upgraded if we want to remain competitive and at least up to "Ivy League" standards.

For example, on Friday evening there were construction grade do not enter ropes around the upper half of the crescent, but during the football season they at least had a nice red Cornell canvas over that section. Although some of you posters may not agree, the West side of the stadium where the West Stands (which the City of Ithaca condemned and were torn down) is now an ugly parking garage and also looks like a construction site. On Sunday, the TV cameras kept pointing to that side and it really looks ugly. On top of that, some fans were watching the game from the parking garage, again not a good look.

This season during the Syracuse lacrosse game, some of their fans were heckling again on the sad state of Schoellkopf Field. It's a once beautiful historic stadium (1915) and is used for not only athletics but other events like freshman orientation, graduation, etc. and it's so upsetting to see the facility in such disrepair! Even if we no longer draw large crowds, we still do not have enough seats for graduation! My suggestion is to at least build a multi-purpose locker room on the West Side, add a smaller say 1,500 seat grandstand above and in front, adorned with the eight Ivy League flags and some nice landscaping. We could even bring some home soccer games back to the facility. In closing Schoellkopf Field is the only on-campus stadium we have and it's time to bring the facility back up to Ivy League standards.

There were "long-range" plans to add a weight room/locker room space with stands for the West Stands. Andy Noel referred to it a few years ago. However the focus and fund raising now is aimed at the Meinig Fieldhouse.

Ken711
There were "long-range" plans to add a weight room/locker room space with stands for the West Stands. Andy Noel referred to it a few years ago. However the focus and fund raising now is aimed at the Meinig Fieldhouse.

Princeton does not seem to have a one-athletic-project-at-a-time mode. But then it's the richest college in the world (based on endowment per student, currently $4 million).

We also have a need for a swimming pool.

And parking out by the new baseball field. They allotted, what, 30? 50? parking spaces?

No. We don't "need" anything in athletics. Ever. That's a cutesy luxury after you take care of academics.

We need better salaries for professors and better packages to get better grad students, and we need to give Poors a free ride and charge the rich up the ass to reproduce their generational wealth in their idiot progeny. We need to burn every other building on campus to the ground and replant trees. We need to move all the STEMmies to Roosevelt Island and restore the Ithaca campus to education instead of animal training.

If the ex-jocks with Hedge Funds want to relive their glory days at Schoellkopf with their trophy implant-bearers, they can pay for that themselves.

Trotsky
No. We don't "need" anything in athletics. Ever. That's a cutesy luxury after you take care of academics.

We need better salaries for professors and better packages to get better grad students, and we need to give Poors a free ride and charge the rich up the ass to reproduce their generational wealth in their idiot progeny. We need to burn every other building on campus to the ground and replant trees. We need to move all the STEMmies to Roosevelt Island and restore the Ithaca campus to education instead of animal training.

If the ex-jocks with Hedge Funds want to relive their glory days at Schoellkopf with their trophy implant-bearers, they can pay for that themselves.

You should one for university trustee!

Obviously Trotsky does not like athletics. Given all the campus unrest with the middle east issues, the lacrosse game on Friday evening was a nice way for students and alumni to enjoy a fun evening together. I think we can all agree we attended Cornell for the academics first and other amenities like athletics second. However, athletics promotes a healthy lifestyle and teamwork that you simply cannot find in the classroom, on a computer screen, or laboratory. As a former Big Red student-athlete, I remember going for a run a few months after graduation and I felt so out of shape. I started running again and going to the fitness center, which I have continued to workout after my college days. Regular exercise has helped me tremendously both physically and mentally. I was at reunion a few years ago and each morning there were a bunch of us alums working out too. Whether playing a varsity sport or simply taking an aerobics class at Cornell, I think we can all be student-athletes! Go Big Red!

Trotsky
No. We don't "need" anything in athletics. Ever. That's a cutesy luxury after you take care of academics.

We need better salaries for professors and better packages to get better grad students, and we need to give Poors a free ride and charge the rich up the ass to reproduce their generational wealth in their idiot progeny. We need to burn every other building on campus to the ground and replant trees. We need to move all the STEMmies to Roosevelt Island and restore the Ithaca campus to education instead of animal training.

If the ex-jocks with Hedge Funds want to relive their glory days at Schoellkopf with their trophy implant-bearers, they can pay for that themselves.

Despite running a website on the history of Cornell hockey and posting tens of thousands of times on a website devoted to Cornell athletics, Trotsky is evidently unfamiliar with the concept that university athletics may be meaningful and beneficial to a wider audience than solely the athletes themselves.

Much less the pathetic shape of the swimming facility at Teagle. I believe some swim events have been moved to Glazer Arena at Ithaca College. At minimum they should be up to standards of the schools in the Ivy and Patriot League.

rss77
Much less the pathetic shape of the swimming facility at Teagle. I believe some swim events have been moved to Glazer Arena at Ithaca College. At minimum they should be up to standards of the schools in the Ivy and Patriot League.

I'm baffled this still hasn't garnered the action it should given that many people on campus use the swimming facilities and the school itself mandates a swim test.

Agreed Teagle Hall is an old building and there might be some issues renovating the pool facility. Glad the team can use the Ithaca College Kelsey Partridge pool which is nearly brand new (2011 opening) and has a full length 50 meter pool. We all lifted in Teagle when I was at Cornell and it was an old facility 30 plus years ago.

Getting back to Schoellkopf Field.............the stadium is a fairly central location on campus and is used for more than just athletics. Schoellkopf is literally the first venue on campus freshmen visit and the last when they graduate.