Wildcat Stadium Wins New England “Best Projects” Award

Venue voted number one for sports/entertainment in region

Friday, December 15, 2017

Wildcat Stadium, home of the UNH Wildcats football, soccer, lacrosse and track and field programs, has won the Engineering News-Record (ENR) New England Best Projects Merit Award in the category of sports/entertainment for 2017.

Wildcat Stadium was one of nearly 30 projects throughout New England that five industry judges selected to win based on such criteria as the project’s contribution to industry and the community, safety and construction design quality, and the project team’s ability to overcome challenges.

Everything served in the stadium is compostable or recyclable. Learn more about how Wildcat Stadium is a zero-waste facility.

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“In its first two years, the impact of Wildcat Stadium on our campus, in our community and throughout the state of New Hampshire has outpaced even our ambitious expectations,” says UNH director of athletics Marty Scarano. “This ‘Best Projects Award’ validates Wildcat Stadium as a premier destination for college athletics and entertainment in New England and recognizes the many partners who put in so much time and effort to build it.”

Wildcat Stadium, which opened in 2016, was honored for enhancing the gameday experience for fans and student-athletes. The project added a wide variety of concessions and a broadcast-capable press box to go along with the Service Credit Union Victory Club and a high-definition videoboard. Crews were able to complete the project while Mooradian Field and the Reggie F. Atkins Outdoor Track & Facility track remained in use.

The project achieved a perfect Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable incident rate and lost-time accident rate during 110,000 worker-hours.

In its second season as home of the UNH football team, Wildcat Stadium saw a 13 percent, regular-season attendance increase, including the all-time largest crowd for a home opener (15,854) and the largest on-campus crowd (22,135) in school history. The Wildcats averaged 12,751 fans per regular-season home game, up from the previous high of 11,108 in 2016. The overall attendance of 63,756 for five regular-season home dates eclipsed the regular-season attendance of 55,542 in 2016.