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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

Bob Ford Field

Bob Ford Field at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium is a football stadium in Albany, New York, owned and operated by the University at Albany, SUNY and hosts the school's football team, as well as their soccer program. The stadium, with an initial seating capacity of 8,500 (originally called Bob Ford field, named after Bob Ford, who was head coach at Albany from 1970 until retiring at the end of the 2013 season, with the playing field still called that) opened on September 14, 2013, when Albany made its debut in Colonial Athletic Association football against Rhode Island. It was renamed Bob Ford Field at Tom and Mary Casey Stadium in 2015 after Tom & Mary Casey gave a $10 million gift to the school. It replaced University Field as the school's current stadium.

Features

  • 8,500 seats, including 629 chair-backs, bleachers, and a natural grass berm.
  • Daktronics scoreboard with a 39’ by 22’ HD video display and point-source sound system behind the south end zone.
  • Press level with four luxury suites, print media area, and booths for radio, television, coaches, and replay.

Attendance records

Football

Rank Attendance Date Game Result
1 9,052 October 8, 2016 16 Albany 30, 6 Richmond 36
2 8,919 October 21, 2017 Albany 10, Maine 12
3 8,500 October 17, 2015 Albany 0, 25 Villanova 37
3 8,500 October 10, 2015 Albany 7, Maine 39
3 8,500 October 11, 2014 Albany 28, 22 Richmond 41
3 8,500 October 19, 2013 Albany 17, 7 Towson 44
3 8,500 September 14, 2013 Albany 13, Rhode Island 19
8 8,144 September 11, 2021 Albany 14, Rhode Island 16
9 8,040 September 17, 2016 25 Albany 45, Holy Cross 28
10 7,763 October 19, 2019 Albany 35, Rhode Island 28
11 7,029 October 20, 2018 Albany 28, 13 Towson 56
12 6,866 September 23, 2017 Albany 19, 7 Villanova 10
13 6,748 August 30, 2014 Albany 14, Holy Cross 13
14 6,503 September 15, 2018 Albany 30, Morgan State 27
15 6,412 September 21, 2013 Albany 17, Central Connecticut 20
16 6,384 September 16, 2017 Albany 28, Monmouth 14
17 6,309 September 24, 2016 22 Albany 20, Saint Francis 9
18 6,227 September 26, 2015 Albany 17, Duquesne 14
19 6,081 September 12, 2015 Albany 35, Rhode Island 7
20 6,044 November 16, 2013 Albany 20, 23 New Hampshire 37

Due to growing popularity and national recognition of lacrosse, the first-ever Albany Great Danes men's lacrosse game was held at Bob Ford Field on April 18, 2015. It was the first time since March 10, 2007 that a top-10 matchup was held in the Capital District, with #4 UAlbany defeating #10 Delaware 13–7. Since then, multiple top-25 in the nation games have been held there. The official seating capacity for lacrosse at Casey Stadium is 6,394.

Most home lacrosse games are played next door at John Fallon Field (Max-Capacity 2,500)

Highest attendance at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium (Lacrosse Only)
Rank Attendance Date Game Result Name of Event
1 6,472 May 13, 2017 8 Seed Albany 15, UNC 12 1st Round - NCAA Tournament
2 4,823 April 18, 2015 No 8 Albany 12, No 7 Yale 11 Spring Stomp
3 3,205 April 22, 2017 No 5 Albany 13, No 12 Yale 12 Spring Stomp
4 3,093 April 12, 2017 No 6 Albany 11, No 3 Maryland 12
5 2,514 April 25, 2015 No 7 Albany 20, UMBC 9 America East Regular Season Finale
6 2,146 May 2, 2015 No 7 Albany 22, No 17 Stony Brook 9 America East Championship
7 2,137 April 16, 2016 No 6 Albany 12, Binghamton 8 Spring Stomp
8 2,108 April 29, 2017 No 7 Albany 16, Hartford 10 America East Regular Season Finale

Non-UAlbany Events

Since 2021 Tom & Mary Casey Stadium has hosted the Premier Lacrosse League(PLL). In 2022 and 2023 the university has hosted the leagues training camp and opening weekend to the tour based schedule. In 2024 the league announced that teams would be given "home cities" and the New York Atlas (lacrosse) would be based out of Albany and Tom & Mary Casey Stadium. The addition of home cities and conferences brought slight changes to the schedule. Every team has one weekend where they are the home team and play a weekend doubleheader.

See also

References

  1. ^ "University Breaks Ground for New Multi-Sports Complex, Launches $1 Million Challenge for Bob Ford Field". State University of New York at Albany. April 17, 2012. Retrieved September 19, 2012.
  2. ^ "UAlbany Football Announces Complete 2013 Schedule" (Press release). University at Albany Athletics. March 14, 2013. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  3. ^ "After $10 million gift, UAlbany names facility Tom and Mary Casey Stadium". Albany Times Union. October 8, 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
  4. ^ "Possible NCAA record attendance for UAlbany lacrosse game – the Daily Gazette". May 10, 2017.
  5. ^ "Albany knocks off defending champs UNC in NCAA tournament first round | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved September 4, 2023.

42°40′59.9″N 73°49′37.7″W / 42.683306°N 73.827139°W / 42.683306; -73.827139