[OT] Best sport facilities (Ivy League)

[billhoward]

Thinking of Andy Noel's comment in the Cornell Daily Sun to the effect that Lynah appears due for refurbishing got me to thinking: Who has the best sports facilities in the Ivy League? Even a old facility is great for the home team when it's big and it's packed (hello, Lynah). For lacrosse, Princeton's Class of 1952 field, a 4000-5000 seat facility apart from the football field, is just superb (as it is for soccer and field hockey) because it's just the right size for the sports that use it. So: Who has the Ivy best facilities for hockey, for football, for basketball, for wrestling, etcetera?

[Al DeFlorio]

Interesting question.  

Haven't been to Friedman, so I can't compare it with the Palestra, where Penn holds at least its "big" wrestling matches.

I've always been partial to Harvard Stadium for football, because of the seating so close to the field with very steep banking.  Wish it had benches, though.  Princeton's new football stadium is very well done, especially the fact that it's enclosed at both ends (IIRC).  Quite a to-do when they decided to scrap old Palmer.

[billhoward]

Princeton Stadium also integrates well into campus life. The innards of the stadium has walkways and offices and meeting rooms, so it's meant to be used througout the year. It's not just a big spectator shell used only a half-dozen times a year.

It's also going to remain "Princeton Stadium" until someone ponies up a couple million for the naming rights.

[billhoward]

In Ithaca, the perfect place for a small secondary stadium a la Princeton's Class of 1952 lax / soccer field would be on Lower Alumni Field, the practice field just north of Teagle Hall.

[Greg Berge]

For hockey, I would rank them:

1. Cornell
-GAP-
2. Harvard
3. Dartmouth
4. Princeton
5. Yale
-GAP-
6. Brown

[jtwcornell91]

I haven't been to the new Princeton Stadium, but I hit the other seven as an undergrad (and Palmer Stadium the fall of my first year out), and I was most impressed with the Yale Bowl.  Of course, that may just be because it was a gorgeous day when we were there.

[O.S.B.]

[Q]For hockey, I would rank them:

1. Cornell
-GAP-
2. Harvard
3. Dartmouth
4. Princeton
5. Yale
-GAP-
6. Brown [Q]

Lynah's only good when packed, it's not really that fun playing there when no one is there

[nyc94]

[Q]billhoward Wrote:

 In Ithaca, the perfect place for a small secondary stadium a la Princeton's Class of 1952 lax / soccer field would be on Lower Alumni Field, the practice field just north of Teagle Hall. [/q]

Aren't they going to build a biotech building there?

[Tom Pasniewski 98]

The Life Sciences Building is going on Lower Alumni Field.  Until a large donor comes along or they name it for Hunter, that's what it will be known as.

[Tom Pasniewski 98]

Well, having been to all eight campuses and seen many different sports at those campuses, I'll weigh in and admit where I don't know something:

Football:  
Best:
Tie:  Princeton Stadium - a great looking multi-purpose facility but I was sad to see Palmer go (was at Princeton for that 98 Cornell-Princeton opener)
Harvard Stadium - for what Al said and for the fact that it fills up for Yale-Harvard (okay, it's only once every two years); Harvard has so much land now, that it doesn't need offices in there.  Princeton's a little bit more pressed for space.

Worst:
Dartmouth - port-a-potties for the visitors - 'nuff said - I guess one could have a trough or wall discussion here too.

Hockey:
Best:  Taking Cornell's out of the equation, I'd go with Princeton for building history and closeness to the action; closeness to the action puts Harvard up there too.

Worst:  Penn

Basketball:  
Best:  Jadwin at Princeton
Worst:  Dartmouth

Lacrosse:
Best:  Class of 1952 at Princeton
Worst:  Okay, I won't say Columbia - Cornell fans are really removed and especially if you're talking women's lacrosse

Soccer:
Best:  Class of 1952 at Princeton
Worst:  Sadly, I think it might be us - do we still play on lower alumni field?

Baseball:
I don't know enough but I like real dugouts

Wrestling:
Ask Andy Noel

[cornelldavy]

[Q]Tom Pasniewski 98 Wrote:

 Hockey:
Best:  Taking Cornell's out of the equation, I'd go with Princeton for building history and closeness to the action; closeness to the action puts Harvard up there too.

Worst:  Penn

[/q]


I know Penn doesn't have a team anymore, but Class of 1923 Rink is a facility I always liked...my high school hockey team used to practice there, and I remember from a player's standpoint that the locker rooms were more spacious than most other rinks and that it probably seated more than most, if not all, of the other Ivy rinks. I also remember that when you stood on the west goal line to line up for suicides, your line of sight out the windows at the northeast entrance to the building lined up perfectly so you could read the scrolling text at the top of the PECO building.

[billhoward]

[Q]nyc94 Wrote:

 [Q2]billhoward Wrote:

 In Ithaca, the perfect place for a small secondary stadium a la Princeton's Class of 1952 lax / soccer field would be on Lower Alumni Field, the practice field just north of Teagle Hall. [/Q]
Aren't they going to build a biotech building there?

[/q]

I think there's an understanding: If anything ever were to be built on the double wide Lower Alumni Field, Upper Alumni Field would remain inviolate and green unto eternity.

[billhoward]

You said how nice Penn's Class of '23 Rink (built circa 1970, I think, just in time for Penn to fold hockey a couple years later) was for visitors' locker rooms. And that raises another good point:

What's best depends on who you are: a player, a visiting player, a spectator, an involved alumnus, a writer/editor, a kid vs. an adult. An outdoor stadium with an overhang is a godsend if it rains during the game. Grassy parking areas are better for tailgating than parking lots. For indoor facilities, a reception room is great for parents and for the AD when he's trying to chat up potential donors.

I believe Penn's Class of '23 rink had a raised, glassed in spectator area for the contributors. I'm trying to recall which Ivy outdoor stadiums (or rinks) have private boxes.  

Baker Rink is a great small facility, aging as it is, and at 2000 seats it's adequate for every game save one. On the other hand, the press box is at the end of the rink, which annoys only about 50 people, but they're not the 50 people you want to annoy.

Lynah's connector into other, newer facilities is great for between periods.

Football stadiums without running tracks are the way to go for getting closer to the action.

[ninian '72]

Princeton, Harvard, and Brown probably have the best facilities for swimming with modern, 50m pools.  Cornell's 6-lane, 25 yard pool is the smallest.  I was disappointed  that the renovations to the Helen Newman aquatic facilities didn't include reconfiguring the new and old space into a 50m competition pool.  As long as they were going to spend the money, it seems like a missed opportunity.

[Shorts]

[Q]Soccer:
Best: Class of 1952 at Princeton
Worst: Sadly, I think it might be us - do we still play on lower alumni field?

...

Wrestling:
Ask Andy Noel [/Q]The soccer team currently (at least this past year, probably for the past couple years) plays on Berman field in the "Robert J. Kane Sports Complex".  Basically, of the five full-size fields that run along the south side of Tower Road (also including the upper and lower alumni fields), its the one closest to the Vet School.  It's got a track around it (as well as assorted track&field facilities next to it, like throwing ranges), and a pretty nice set of bleachers along one side.  In my opinion, the backdrop of traditional-looking Vet. school buildings, the trees along tower road, and the top of the Wilson Synchrotron building has a much more college-campus/outdoorsy feel than a lot of more built-up stadiums, where all you have to look at is the bleachers on the other side of the field (for example, Schoellkopf or Princeton's 1952).  Although the track does force a little distance between the stands and the field itself, the out-of-bounds lines for soccer are only about a yard in from the edge of the grass, and the front row of seats is pretty close to the ground.  As long as the teams aren't drawing huge crowds (Athletics describes its capacity as "over 1,000"), I think it's a pretty nice place to watch a game.

For wrestling, the new wrestling-only building is pretty sweet.  It has over 1,000 seats arranged around three sides of the center mat.  From an athlete's standpoint, my understanding is that it has all the bells and whistles that could possibly be rationalized for a one-sport building.  From the outside, it looks very modern, to the point that when I saw the plans for the new West Campus community center, I couldn't help thinking that it looked like the love child of Duffield Hall and the Wrestling building.  I would be surprised if any of the other Ivies had a better modern facility (although I'm sure there are some very nice older facilities.  I've always thought that I'd rather watch a basketball game in the history-rich Barton Hall than high-school-gymnasium-replica Newman Arena).

[Q]I was disappointed that the renovations to the Helen Newman aquatic facilities didn't include reconfiguring the new and old space into a 50m competition pool.[/Q]I'm also a bit surprised that Cornell doesn't have a bigger pool, especially considering the excellent facilities that Yale, for example, has.  Of course, the problem with a 50m pool is that it's 25 meters longer than a 25m pool, and so making the change would mean some serious rebuilding, and Helen Newman Hall isn't exactly located in the easiest place for construction, perched over Beebe Lake.  Also, my understanding is that the swim teams use Teagle anyway, probably because of its proximity to all the rest of the althetics facilies (weight rooms, coaching offices, parking).