Athletic Facilities
New Facilities
Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, UConn’s on-campus domed facility serves as the home court of the men’s and women’s basketball and women’s volleyball program.
Gampel Pavilion opened in January of 1990 and totals more than 171,000 square feet in the domed area. An additional 39,000 square feet comprise the attached Wolff-Zackin Natatorium (including a 50- meter Olympic size swimming pool).
The entire project cost $28 million and measures 320 feet in diameter, in the circular domed arena area. The aluminum dome of the Gampel Pavilion towers more than 130 feet in the air from ground level.
During the summer 2017, Gampel Pavilion underwent a massive repair job on the roof and ceiling. Prep work for the project started right after Commencement in May and the project concluded at the end of October – in time for the start of basketball season. A budget of $10 million for the repair work was approved by the UConn Board of Trustees at the group’s meeting on January 25, 2017.
There are 2,200 panels that make up the dome. The panels were brought down six at a time in hexagons and each panel was rewrapped with new fabric and insulation. In addition to the interior work, the exterior of the dome got new battens and gaskets as the original ones were still in place, but needed to be replaced due to years of weather and exposure to the elements. A new cabling system was also installed for the catwalks of Gampel Pavilion.
During the summer of 1996, the original capacity of Gampel Pavilion (8,241) was increased with additional seating placed above each of the four entrance quadrants of the building. The new ‘sellout’ for UConn Basketball in Storrs is 9,882, making the UConn facility the largest capacity on-campus basketball arena in New England and the Northeast.
Gampel Pavilion, which is an iconic landmark in the middle of campus, provides the UConn basketball and women’s volleyball programs with one of the most intimate on-campus game atmospheres in the entire nation.
Prior to the start of the 1999-2000 season, two new scoreboards were installed in Gampel Pavilion. Both boards contain complete player lineup information (points, fouls) as well as full color game video boards and message centers. The ‘Alumni Court’ main arena floor is constructed of ‘spring aire’ wood.
The Huskies’ gameday locker rooms include wood grain ‘pro style’ individual lockers as well as an adjoining varsity team lounge and audio-visual area, complete with large screen television, hook-up for scouting and game review, and a stereo sound system.
The XL Center has been the second home to the UConn Men’s Basketball team since January of 1976 and the UConn Women’s Basketball program since 1980. The UConn Men’s Hockey program made the XL Center their home arena in 2014. The arena opened on January 9, 1975.
One of Connecticut’s largest indoor sports and entertainment facility, the XL Center has hosted a number of post-season basketball tournaments, including most recently an NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament regional round, and UConn Women’s basketball hosted Team USA in 2020.
The 16,294-seat arena also entertains millions of visitors annually with a variety of concerts including an extraordinary roster of world-renowned artists including Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Drake, Pearl Jam and many others.
Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field is located in East Hartford and opened in 2003, as the Huskies defeated Big Ten Conference member Indiana, 34-10. Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field, named for Pratt & Whitney aircraft founder Frederick Rentschler, is built on a former 75-acre airfield donated by Pratt’s parent company, United Technologies, to the State of Connecticut. The airfield opened in 1931, and saw the likes of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart. There is a display on the history of the site as an airfield in the stadium.
The stadium serves as the home field of UConn Football and has hosted a wide variety of other athletic, cultural and civic events including international soccer, rugby, lacrosse and major concerts including The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and The Police. Rentschler Field is also the home of the Connecticut High School Coaches Hall of Fame, which is located on the southwest concourse.
The natural grass playing surface of Rentschler Field is 26 feet below grade at the stadium and was resodded in the summer of 2011. With 38,000 seats, Rentschler Field features stadium seating, outdoor chairback seating, fully enclosed club seats and luxury suites. The tower at Rentschler Field includes levels for suites, club seating and media/game management facilities.
There are 38 suites in the stadium and more than 600 seats in the club area, which also includes a 12,000-square foot function area, which is used by club patrons on gameday and is available for meetings and social events the remainder of the year. The outdoor seating area of Rentschler Field includes nearly 4,000 chairback seats with the rest being bleacher seating.
The media facilities have seating for 125 media members in the main press area. There are separate booths for television and radio broadcasts. That level also includes booths for coaching staffs, security, public address announcer, scoreboard operation and other gameday facilities.
The main UConn locker room is 3,750 square feet. There is also a coach’s locker room, equipment area and medical training rooms. The visiting team locker room is also spacious and has similar amenities.
The sound system at Rentschler Field has approximately 300 digital-quality speakers providing the audio. The west end of the stadium features a scoreboard that has a 24-foot by 32-foot videoboard. Rentschler Field features lighting with four towers in each corner of the stadium and a bank of lights on top of the press box.
All parking for the stadium is located within the footprint of the stadium site – which makes it unique for a college football facility. In total, there are 10,600 parking spaces at the Rentschler Field site.
The building of the facility and its management was and is the result of incredible teamwork and dedication between the state’s Office of Policy and Management, the town of East Hartford, United Technologies Corporation and the assistance from numerous public and private sector organizations. The architectural firm Ellerbe Becket designed the facility and the construction manager was Hunt/Gilbane joint venture. The result of this cooperation gives the people of Connecticut the opportunity to view college football at its highest level.
UConn received the Governor’s Leadership Award in December of 2003 for its efforts in the first year of play at Rentschler Field. The annual award is given to an individual or group that had done an outstanding job in bringing together a wide spectrum of people and resources to bear on a significant development issue in Connecticut.
George J. Sherman Family-Sports Complex is home to the UConn Field Hockey and Men and Women’s Track and Field programs. The $3.7 million athletic facility is located adjacent to Greer Fieldhouse and behind Gampel Pavilion and the Werth Family UConn Basketball Champions Center, in the heart of UConn’s campus.
The complex opened in the 1995-96 academic year. The George J. Sherman Family-Sports Complex features an artificial turf field (nylon knit on elastic layer over a vertical drain base), an eight-lane, 400-meter all-weather track surface, as well as seating for 2,000 fans, full-field lighting, a press box, and an electronic scoreboard.
The on-campus home for the University of Connecticut Men’s and Women’s Ice Hockey teams is the Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum, which opened in the fall of 1998.
The Forum was constructed as part of the UConn 2000 commitment by the State of Connecticut to help rebuild, renew, and enhance the campuses of the University of Connecticut.
UConn Women’s head coach Chris Mackenzie and UConn Men’s head coach Mike Cavanaugh and their staffs are housed in offices located in the Arena.
Joseph J. Morrone Stadium at the Rizza Family Performance Center is home to UConn men’s and women’s soccer and the women’s lacrosse program.
The stadium is named after former UConn men’s soccer coach, Joe Morrone. Morrone led the Huskies for 28 seasons, had a record of 358-178-53, advanced to three straight national semifinals in 1981-1983, and won the national championship in 1981. Morrone, a member of the NSCAA Hall of Fame, retired from coaching in 1996.
Former UConn men’s soccer player Tony Rizza (’87) contributed significant financial donations to help build both the new Morrone Stadium and the sports performance center that will house men’s and women’s soccer, lacrosse, baseball and softball teams.
The Huskies will have their player locker room, player’s lounge and coach’s offices in the performance center. An athletic training room and strength and conditioning area will also be featured in the Performance Center. There will also be a room that the team can utilize for meals and film.
Morrone Stadium has a bleacher capacity of 4,169 with standing room that will push stadium capacity to 5,300 and feature a FieldTurf Core-2 playing surface that measures 75 by 120 yards.
The facility features a press box that will hold multiple radio and TV booths, and an area for PA/scoring and the press.
Since 1999, the UConn men’s soccer program has ranked in the top-five in attendance every year, including leading the nation in average or overall attendance in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008. 2007, 2011, 2017 and 2018. Both the men’s and women’s soccer programs have hosted a number of conference and NCAA post-season events over the years. The men’s team has produced three national championships.
Elliot Ballpark becomes the new home of the Huskies in 2021 after the Huskies previously played at J.O. Christian Field from 1968-2019. Elliot Ballpark is named after Doug Elliot, a UConn baseball player from 1979-82 who was named Lawrence R. Panciera MVP during his playing career, and his family (wife, Sheila, and children, Doug and Jaclyn) for their support of the stadium project and the UConn baseball program.
The field’s dimensions are 330’ down the left field line, 400’ to straight-away center field and 330’ down the line in right field.
The entire field is covered in AstroTurf OPS and allows the Huskies to practice and play in a variety of weather conditions.
Elliot Ballpark features 1,351 seating capacity that features both seatback and bleacher seating behind home plate and along the first and third base lines. There will also be additional seating on the large berm area that extends all the way down the right field line. The Matt Barnes bullpen features three turf mounds for the Huskies and is named after 2011 UConn All-American and current Red Sox pitcher Matt Barnes. The visiting bullpen contains turf mounds and one dirt mound the Huskies can use prior to traveling to ballparks with dirt mounds. The press box features radio and TV booths, along with space for PA/Scoring and the press. Elliot Ballpark also features a video/scoreboard in right field lights that will allow playing of night games for first time in program history.
The Huskies will also have their new player’s locker room, lounge and coaches’ offices in the new Rizza Family Performance Center, adjacent to Elliot Ballpark down the left field line. Five batting and pitching tunnels, an athletic training room and strength and conditioning area will also be featured in the Performance Center. There will also be a room that the team can utilize for meals and film.
The Burrill Family Field Softball Complex is a state-of-the-art facility that ranks among the best in all of the Northeast. The Huskies are scheduled to open their new stadium for the 2021 season.
The facility will feature a fully electronic video/scoreboard in right-center field that will be operated from a brand new press box. The press box will contain radio, TV booths and space for public address announcer, scoring and press. The facility holds a capacity of 518 including 250 chair back seats. Burrill Family Field will feature three outdoor cages, three mounds in both home and visiting bullpen and lights that will allow playing of night games for first time in program history. The sunken dugouts include storage space and a player restroom. Restrooms and storage space will be provided at the main entry of the stadium.
The field’s dimensions are 200’ down the left field line, 220’ to straight-away center field and 200’ down the line in right field.
The Huskies will also have a brand new player locker room, player’s lounge and coach’s offices in the new Rizza Family Performance Center, across the street from the Softball Complex. Five batting and pitching tunnels, an athletic training room and strength and conditioning area will also be featured in the Performance Center. There will also be a room that the team can utilize for meals and film.
The Burrill family has generously supported UConn Athletics through various gifts, including the establishment of the Barbara and Bob (’74) Burrill Family Athletic Scholarship and Burrill Family Field at the Connecticut Softball Complex.
The Wolff-Zackin Natatorium is the home of the UConn Men and Women’s Swimming and Diving programs. The 39,000-square foot Natatorium is part of UConn’s $28 million project, which also includes the 171,000-square foot Harry A. Gampel Pavilion.
The facility houses a 50-meter ‘stretch pool’ that includes two movable bulkheads, allowing the pool to assume several different configurations. In addition, there are individual coaches’ offices, men’s and women’s varsity locker rooms, and visiting team locker rooms. The spectator area can accommodate 800 Husky fans.
The standard collegiate length of 25 yards can be used in an all-deep-water course in the Wolff-Zackin pool, featuring eight-foot wide lanes, and a flow-through bulkhead. A second bulkhead provides an enclosed warm-up, warm-diving area while also allowing for a separate diving area. The diving area includes two one-meter and two three-meter maxiflex springboards on Dura firm standards.
Some of the other features of the Wolff-Zackin Natatorium includes a Colorado Electronic Timing System IV, men’s and women’s team record boards, a videotape replay system, and an underwater viewing window.
The Werth Family UConn Basketball Champions Center opened its doors in October 2014, giving the UConn men’s and women’s basketball programs one of the finest practice facilities in the country.
Located on Jim Calhoun Way adjacent to Gampel Pavilion, the facility provides the UConn men’s and women’s basketball programs each with a place to call their own.
Built at an estimated cost of $40 million, the 78,200-square foot facility consists of two massive and identical wings, containing practice courts, locker rooms, coaches’ offices, athletic training rooms, strength and conditioning areas, areas for sports medicine, film rooms, fully-equipped academic study areas, dining areas, and Hall of Champions, filled with memorabilia celebrating the two programs’ combined 15 national championships and decades of success.
The practice courts for each team include one full-size court and two half-courts and a dedicated free throw shooting basket. A viewing balcony allows coaches and visitors to observe practices with ample space for video equipment to record practice sessions from an elevated position.
Team locker rooms are state-of-the-art, equipped with spacious individual lockers, each with a combination-lock slide-out closet to house valuables.
There are three meeting rooms in the building and each program has student lounges, featuring space to relax, socialize, play video games, or watch TV. There is a full dining area and buffet style serving area on the second floor, ensuring that the student-athletes get proper nutrition.
The sports medicine components include areas for testing, hydrotherapy, treatment and taping, doctor’s office, and state-of-the-art rehab equipment. The spacious academic area includes numerous computer-equipped study stations as well as private academic counseling rooms. The Werth Family UConn Basketball Champions Center gives the University of Connecticut on-campus practice and training facilities for men’s and women’s basketball that rank among the finest in the nation.
The University of Connecticut football team enjoys one of the finest on-campus football facilities in the country — thanks in large part to the building of The Burton Family Football Complex.
The Burton Family Football Complex serves as the on-campus home of UConn football and complements Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. The lead gift for the facility was a $2.5 million contribution by Robert G. Burton. Burton’s tremendously successful business career has included leadership in the printing and publishing industry and his current role as Chairman and CEO of Cenveo, a company that encompasses more than two dozen entities in over 100 facilities across the U.S., as well as manufacturing operations in Asia, South America and Central America and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. Burton’s son, Michael, was the captain of the 1999 Husky football team.
Burton also has donated in excess of $1 million to establish two endowed scholarships for UConn student-athletes.
Construction on the facility began in fall 2004 and the building opened in the summer of 2006. The Burton Family Football Complex houses coaches’ offices and includes an academic resource center, team meeting rooms, a team locker room, a state-of-the-art sports medicine area, video facilities, a team dining hall, a student-athlete lounge and an equipment room. The Burton Family Football Complex, along with the Mark R. Shenkman Training Center, were the University’s first projects certified as meeting the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards for “green” buildings. LEED designation is a process certifying that a building project meets a wide range of environmentally friendly criteria. This new construction marked the first college or university athletics project in the nation to earn the designation.
The UConn Division of Athletics received an Environmental Leadership Award from the University of Connecticut for the work performed at The Burton Family Football Complex.
Thanks to alumnus Mark R. Shenkman the University of Connecticut joined the ranks of major universities nationwide with an indoor training facility that is utilized by the football program, recreational services and other varsity sports.
His $2.5 million gift, one of the largest given to the UConn Division of Athletics, built an intercollegiate, intramural and recreational facility that serves the entire UConn community. The 85,000-square-foot Mark R. Shenkman Training Center is one of the most modern facilities of its kind in the country. Construction on the facility began in the fall of 2004 and the Mark R. Shenkman Training Center opened in the summer of 2006.
Featuring a 120-yard long state-of-the-art Field Turf playing surface, an 18,000-square- foot strength and conditioning area, and state-of-the-art video capabilities, the indoor training center provides UConn’s football team with the most technologically advanced training equipment.
The Mark R. Shenkman Training Center, along with the Burton Family Football Complex, were the University’s first projects certified as meeting the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards for “green” buildings. LEED designation is a process certifying that a building project meets a wide range of environmentally friendly criteria. This marked the first college or university athletics project in the nation to earn the designation.
The UConn Division of Athletics received an Environmental Leadership Award from the University of Connecticut for the work performed at the Mark R. Shenkman Training Center.
A resident of Greenwich, Conn., Shenkman graduated from the Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Wilbraham, Mass. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from UConn in 1965 followed by a master’s degree in business administration from George Washington University.
Shenkman is the founder and president of Shenkman Capital Management, Inc., a registered investment advisor with offices in New York City and Stamford, Conn. and is an Emeritus member of the University of Connecticut Foundation Board of Directors.
Shenkman was elected to the UConn School of Business Hall of Fame in 2002 and has endowed a classroom and the e-Commerce Chair for the business school.
Shenkman and his wife, Rosalind, also committed $2 million to the building of the new UConn Basketball Champions Center.
“There is a special place in my heart for the University of Connecticut,” says Shenkman. “With this gift, I hope to see our football program achieve the same standard of excellence as the men’s and women’s basketball teams. It’s also gratifying that the UConn student population as a whole will benefit from this leading edge facility.”
New Facilities
Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, UConn’s on-campus domed facility serves as the home court of the men’s and women’s basketball and women’s volleyball program.
Gampel Pavilion opened in January of 1990 and totals more than 171,000 square feet in the domed area. An additional 39,000 square feet comprise the attached Wolff-Zackin Natatorium (including a 50- meter Olympic size swimming pool).
The entire project cost $28 million and measures 320 feet in diameter, in the circular domed arena area. The aluminum dome of the Gampel Pavilion towers more than 130 feet in the air from ground level.
During the summer 2017, Gampel Pavilion underwent a massive repair job on the roof and ceiling. Prep work for the project started right after Commencement in May and the project concluded at the end of October – in time for the start of basketball season. A budget of $10 million for the repair work was approved by the UConn Board of Trustees at the group’s meeting on January 25, 2017.
There are 2,200 panels that make up the dome. The panels were brought down six at a time in hexagons and each panel was rewrapped with new fabric and insulation. In addition to the interior work, the exterior of the dome got new battens and gaskets as the original ones were still in place, but needed to be replaced due to years of weather and exposure to the elements. A new cabling system was also installed for the catwalks of Gampel Pavilion.
During the summer of 1996, the original capacity of Gampel Pavilion (8,241) was increased with additional seating placed above each of the four entrance quadrants of the building. The new ‘sellout’ for UConn Basketball in Storrs is 9,882, making the UConn facility the largest capacity on-campus basketball arena in New England and the Northeast.
Gampel Pavilion, which is an iconic landmark in the middle of campus, provides the UConn basketball and women’s volleyball programs with one of the most intimate on-campus game atmospheres in the entire nation.
Prior to the start of the 1999-2000 season, two new scoreboards were installed in Gampel Pavilion. Both boards contain complete player lineup information (points, fouls) as well as full color game video boards and message centers. The ‘Alumni Court’ main arena floor is constructed of ‘spring aire’ wood.
The Huskies’ gameday locker rooms include wood grain ‘pro style’ individual lockers as well as an adjoining varsity team lounge and audio-visual area, complete with large screen television, hook-up for scouting and game review, and a stereo sound system.
The XL Center has been the second home to the UConn Men’s Basketball team since January of 1976 and the UConn Women’s Basketball program since 1980. The UConn Men’s Hockey program made the XL Center their home arena in 2014. The arena, formerly the Hartford Civic Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum and Exhibition Center, opened on January 9, 1975.
Northland AEG announced an agreement with XL Insurance renaming the Hartford Civic Center to the XL Center, in December of 2007. Under the terms of the multi-year, seven figure agreement, XL Insurance received exclusive naming rights to one of Connecticut’s largest indoor sports and entertainment facility. Changes included logo updates on both basketball and hockey playing surfaces, tickets, uniforms, arena signage, and atrium graphics.
XL Insurance has a long history in Hartford and maintains its office in the city as a strategically central location in the Northeast to conduct worldwide business and access a talented, educated workforce.
In addition to regular season UConn Basketball, the facility has hosted a number of post-season basketball tournaments. The 16,294-seat arena also entertains millions of visitors annually with a variety of concerts, family shows, ice-skating spectaculars, consumer events and trade shows, and is home to the Hartford Wolfpack of the American Hockey League (AHL). The venue has played host to an extraordinary roster of world-renowned artists, including Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Pearl Jam, Black Eyed Peas, Britney Spears, Drake, and many others. The XL Center will continue to be the center of sports and entertainment for Hartford for years to come.
Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field is located in East Hartford and opened in 2003, as the Huskies defeated Big Ten Conference member Indiana, 34-10. Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field, named for Pratt & Whitney aircraft founder Frederick Rentschler, is built on a former 75-acre airfield donated by Pratt’s parent company, United Technologies, to the State of Connecticut. The airfield opened in 1931, and saw the likes of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart. There is a display on the history of the site as an airfield in the stadium.
The stadium serves as the home field of UConn Football and has hosted a wide variety of other athletic, cultural and civic events including international soccer, rugby, lacrosse and major concerts including The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and The Police. Rentschler Field is also the home of the Connecticut High School Coaches Hall of Fame, which is located on the southwest concourse.
The natural grass playing surface of Rentschler Field is 26 feet below grade at the stadium and was resodded in the summer of 2011. With 38,000 seats, Rentschler Field features stadium seating, outdoor chairback seating, fully enclosed club seats and luxury suites. The tower at Rentschler Field includes levels for suites, club seating and media/game management facilities.
There are 38 suites in the stadium and more than 600 seats in the club area, which also includes a 12,000-square foot function area, which is used by club patrons on gameday and is available for meetings and social events the remainder of the year. The outdoor seating area of Rentschler Field includes nearly 4,000 chairback seats with the rest being bleacher seating.
The media facilities have seating for 125 media members in the main press area. There are separate booths for television and radio broadcasts. That level also includes booths for coaching staffs, security, public address announcer, scoreboard operation and other gameday facilities.
The main UConn locker room is 3,750 square feet. There is also a coach’s locker room, equipment area and medical training rooms. The visiting team locker room is also spacious and has similar amenities.
The sound system at Rentschler Field has approximately 300 digital-quality speakers providing the audio. The west end of the stadium features a scoreboard that has a 24-foot by 32-foot videoboard. Rentschler Field features lighting with four towers in each corner of the stadium and a bank of lights on top of the press box.
All parking for the stadium is located within the footprint of the stadium site – which makes it unique for a college football facility. In total, there are 10,600 parking spaces at the Rentschler Field site.
The building of the facility and its management was and is the result of incredible teamwork and dedication between the state’s Office of Policy and Management, the town of East Hartford, United Technologies Corporation and the assistance from numerous public and private sector organizations. The architectural firm Ellerbe Becket designed the facility and the construction manager was Hunt/Gilbane joint venture. The result of this cooperation gives the people of Connecticut the opportunity to view college football at its highest level.
UConn received the Governor’s Leadership Award in December of 2003 for its efforts in the first year of play at Rentschler Field. The annual award is given to an individual or group that had done an outstanding job in bringing together a wide spectrum of people and resources to bear on a significant development issue in Connecticut.
George J. Sherman Family-Sports Complex is home to the UConn Field Hockey, Women’s Lacrosse, and Men and Women’s Track and Field programs. The $3.7 million athletic facility is located adjacent to Greer Fieldhouse and behind Gampel Pavilion and the Werth Family UConn Basketball Champions Center, and in the heart of UConn’s main campus in Storrs. A financial gift of more than $650,000 to UConn’s Athletic Development Fund by Lottie K. Sherman of West Hartford helped provide the necessary funding for the project. The entire complex is named after Lottie Sherman’s late husband, George J. Sherman.
The complex opened in the 1995-96, academic year. The George J. Sherman Family-Sports Complex features an artificial turf field (nylon knit on elastic layer over a vertical drain base), an eight-lane, 400-meter all-weather track surface, as well as seating for 2,000 fans, full-field lighting, a press box, and an electronic scoreboard.
The on-campus home for the University of Connecticut Men’s and Women’s ice hockey teams is the Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum, which opened in the fall of 1998.
The Forum was constructed as part of the UCONN 2000 commitment by the State of Connecticut to help rebuild, renew, and enhance the campuses of the University of Connecticut. The Forum is one of 62 different projects planned under the 10-year, $1 billion UCONN 2000 umbrella which was originally approved by the State of Connecticut Legislature near the conclusion of its 1995 session and signed into law by former Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland. UConn’s new ice arena replaced the open air UConn Ice Rink, which had served as Connecticut Ice Hockey’s home since the early 1960s.
UConn Women’s head coach Chris Mackenzie and UConn Men’s head coach Mike Cavanaugh and their staffs are housed in offices located in the Arena.
Joseph J. Morrone Stadium at the Rizza Family Performance Center is home to UConn men’s and women’s soccer and the women’s lacrosse program.
The stadium is named after former UConn men’s soccer coach, Joe Morrone. Morrone led the Huskies for 28 seasons, had a record of 358-178-53, advanced to three straight national semifinals in 1981-1983, and won the national championship in 1981. Morrone, a member of the NSCAA Hall of Fame, retired from coaching in 1996.
Former UConn men’s soccer player Tony Rizza (’87) contributed significant financial donations to help build both the new Morrone Stadium and the sports performance center that will house men’s and women’s soccer, lacrosse, baseball and softball teams.
The Huskies will have their player locker room, player’s lounge and coach’s offices in the performance center. An athletic training room and strength and conditioning area will also be featured in the Performance Center. There will also be a room that the team can utilize for meals and film.
Morrone Stadium has a bleacher capacity of 4,169 with standing room that will push stadium capacity to 5,300 and feature a FieldTurf Core-2 playing surface that measures 75 by 120 yards.
The facility features a press box that will hold multiple radio and TV booths, and an area for PA/scoring and the press.
Since 1999, the UConn men’s soccer program has ranked in the top-five in attendance every year, including leading the nation in average or overall attendance in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008. 2007, 2011, 2017 and 2018. Both the men’s and women’s soccer programs have hosted a number of conference and NCAA post-season events over the years. The men’s team has produced three national championships.
Elliot Ballpark becomes the new home of the Huskies in 2021 after the Huskies previously played at J.O. Christian Field from 1968-2019. Elliot Ballpark is named after Doug Elliot, a UConn baseball player from 1979-82 who was named Lawrence R. Panciera MVP during his playing career, and his family (wife, Sheila, and children, Doug and Jaclyn) for their support of the stadium project and the UConn baseball program.
The field’s dimensions are 330’ down the left field line, 400’ to straight-away center field and 330’ down the line in right field.
The entire field is covered in AstroTurf OPS and allows the Huskies to practice and play in a variety of weather conditions.
Elliot Ballpark features 1,351 seating capacity that features both seatback and bleacher seating behind home plate and along the first and third base lines. There will also be additional seating on the large berm area that extends all the way down the right field line. The Matt Barnes bullpen features three turf mounds for the Huskies and is named after 2011 UConn All-American and current Red Sox pitcher Matt Barnes. The visiting bullpen contains turf mounds and one dirt mound the Huskies can use prior to traveling to ballparks with dirt mounds. The press box features radio and TV booths, along with space for PA/Scoring and the press. Elliot Ballpark also features a video/scoreboard in right field lights that will allow playing of night games for first time in program history.
The Huskies will also have their new player’s locker room, lounge and coaches’ offices in the new Rizza Family Performance Center, adjacent to Elliot Ballpark down the left field line. Five batting and pitching tunnels, an athletic training room and strength and conditioning area will also be featured in the Performance Center. There will also be a room that the team can utilize for meals and film.
The Burrill Family Field Softball Complex is a state-of-the-art facility that ranks among the best in all of the Northeast. The Huskies are scheduled to open their new stadium for the 2021 season.
The facility will feature a fully electronic video/scoreboard in right-center field that will be operated from a brand new press box. The press box will contain radio, TV booths and space for public address announcer, scoring and press. The facility holds a capacity of 518 including 250 chair back seats. Burrill Family Field will feature three outdoor cages, three mounds in both home and visiting bullpen and lights that will allow playing of night games for first time in program history. The sunken dugouts include storage space and a player restroom. Restrooms and storage space will be provided at the main entry of the stadium.
The field’s dimensions are 200’ down the left field line, 220’ to straight-away center field and 200’ down the line in right field.
The Huskies will also have a brand new player locker room, player’s lounge and coach’s offices in the new Rizza Family Performance Center, across the street from the Softball Complex. Five batting and pitching tunnels, an athletic training room and strength and conditioning area will also be featured in the Performance Center. There will also be a room that the team can utilize for meals and film.
The Burrill family has generously supported UConn Athletics through various gifts, including the establishment of the Barbara and Bob (’74) Burrill Family Athletic Scholarship and Burrill Family Field at the Connecticut Softball Complex.
The Wolff-Zackin Natatorium is the home of the UConn Men and Women’s Swimming and Diving programs. The 39,000-square foot Natatorium is part of UConn’s $28 million project, which also includes the 171,000-square foot Harry A. Gampel Pavilion.
The facility houses a 50-meter ‘stretch pool’ that includes two movable bulkheads, allowing the pool to assume several different configurations. In addition, there are individual coaches’ offices, men’s and women’s varsity locker rooms, and visiting team locker rooms. The spectator area can accommodate 800 Husky fans.
The standard collegiate length of 25 yards can be used in an all-deep-water course in the Wolff-Zackin pool, featuring eight-foot wide lanes, and a flow-through bulkhead. A second bulkhead provides an enclosed warm-up, warm-diving area while also allowing for a separate diving area. The diving area includes two one-meter and two three-meter maxiflex springboards on Dura firm standards.
Some of the other features of the Wolff-Zackin Natatorium includes a Colorado Electronic Timing System IV, men’s and women’s team record boards, a videotape replay system, and an underwater viewing window.
The Werth Family UConn Basketball Champions Center opened its doors in October, 2014, giving the UConn men’s and women’s basketball programs one of the finest practice facilities in the country.
Built on the site of what was Memorial Stadium, the former on-campus home of the football Huskies, the Werth Family Champions Center is located on Jim Calhoun Way, adjacent to Gampel Pavilion and provides the UConn men’s and women’s basketball programs each with a place to call their own.
Built at an estimated cost of $40 million, the 78,200-square foot facility consists of two massive and identical wings, containing practice courts, locker rooms, coaches’ offices, athletic training rooms, strength and conditioning areas, areas for sports medicine, film rooms, fully-equipped academic study areas, dining areas, and will be filled with memorabilia celebrating the two programs’ combined 15 national championships and decades of success.
The practice courts for each team include one full-size court and two half-courts and a dedicated free throw shooting basket, equaling eight goals per court. A viewing balcony allows coaches and visitors to observe practices with ample space for video equipment to record practice sessions from an elevated position.
Team locker rooms are state-of-the-art, equipped with spacious individual lockers, each with a combination-lock slide-out closet to house valuables.
There are three meeting rooms in the building and each program has student lounges, featuring space to relax, socialize, play video games, or watch TV. There is a full dining area and buffet style serving area on the second floor, ensuring that the athletes get proper nutrition.
The sports medicine components include areas for testing, hydrotherapy, treatment and taping, doctor’s office, and state-of-the-art rehab equipment. The spacious academic area includes numerous computer-equipped study stations as well as private academic counseling rooms. Combining with The Burton Family Football Complex and Mark R. Shenkman Training Center, just a short walk away, the Werth Family UConn Basketball Champions Center gives the University of Connecticut on-campus practice and training facilities for football and men’s and women’s basketball that rank among the finest in the nation.
The University of Connecticut football team enjoys one of the finest on-campus football facilities in the country — thanks in large part to the building of The Burton Family Football Complex.
The Burton Family Football Complex serves as the on-campus home of UConn football and complements Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. The lead gift for the facility was a $2.5 million contribution by Robert G. Burton. Burton’s tremendously successful business career has included leadership in the printing and publishing industry and his current role as Chairman and CEO of Cenveo, a company that encompasses more than two dozen entities in over 100 facilities across the U.S., as well as manufacturing operations in Asia, South America and Central America and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. Burton’s son, Michael, was the captain of the 1999 Husky football team.
Burton also has donated in excess of $1 million to establish two endowed scholarships for UConn student-athletes.
Construction on the facility began in fall 2004 and the building opened in the summer of 2006. The Burton Family Football Complex houses coaches’ offices and includes an academic resource center, team meeting rooms, a team locker room, a state-of-the-art sports medicine area, video facilities, a team dining hall, a student-athlete lounge and an equipment room. The Burton Family Football Complex, along with the Mark R. Shenkman Training Center, were the University’s first projects certified as meeting the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards for “green” buildings. LEED designation is a process certifying that a building project meets a wide range of environmentally friendly criteria. This new construction marked the first college or university athletics project in the nation to earn the designation.
The UConn Division of Athletics received an Environmental Leadership Award from the University of Connecticut for the work performed at The Burton Family Football Complex.
Thanks to alumnus Mark R. Shenkman the University of Connecticut joined the ranks of major universities nationwide with an indoor training facility that is utilized by the football program, recreational services and other varsity sports.
His $2.5 million gift, one of the largest given to the UConn Division of Athletics, built an intercollegiate, intramural and recreational facility that serves the entire UConn community. The 85,000-square-foot Mark R. Shenkman Training Center is one of the most modern facilities of its kind in the country. Construction on the facility began in the fall of 2004 and the Mark R. Shenkman Training Center opened in the summer of 2006.
Featuring a 120-yard long state-of-the-art Field Turf playing surface, an 18,000-square- foot strength and conditioning area, and state-of-the-art video capabilities, the indoor training center provides UConn’s football team with the most technologically advanced training equipment.
The Mark R. Shenkman Training Center, along with the Burton Family Football Complex, were the University’s first projects certified as meeting the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards for “green” buildings. LEED designation is a process certifying that a building project meets a wide range of environmentally friendly criteria. This marked the first college or university athletics project in the nation to earn the designation.
The UConn Division of Athletics received an Environmental Leadership Award from the University of Connecticut for the work performed at the Mark R. Shenkman Training Center.
A resident of Greenwich, Conn., Shenkman graduated from the Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Wilbraham, Mass. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from UConn in 1965 followed by a master’s degree in business administration from George Washington University.
Shenkman is the founder and president of Shenkman Capital Management, Inc., a registered investment advisor with offices in New York City and Stamford, Conn. and is an Emeritus member of the University of Connecticut Foundation Board of Directors.
Shenkman was elected to the UConn School of Business Hall of Fame in 2002 and has endowed a classroom and the e-Commerce Chair for the business school.
Shenkman and his wife, Rosalind, also committed $2 million to the building of the new UConn Basketball Champions Center.
“There is a special place in my heart for the University of Connecticut,” says Shenkman. “With this gift, I hope to see our football program achieve the same standard of excellence as the men’s and women’s basketball teams. It’s also gratifying that the UConn student population as a whole will benefit from this leading edge facility.”