Year Built: 2007

Purpose: Athletic Field

 

The football field that the Gusties have called home has, for the most part, stayed in the same location on campus for the past 100 years. That being said, the facility has undergone major upgrades throughout the century to maintain a well-respected stadium for its players. It all started in 1905 when Gustavus football was originally brought to campus. Games were played on a grass field (directly behind the current library) with minimal artificial seating for spectators, leaving the majority to stand if wanting to watch a game. Though this sufficed for a couple decades, the school saw it necessary to construct a bigger, brand new stadium on the same site, unveiling the new facility in the fall of 1929. The new stadium cost Gustavus $25,000, and boasted a seating capacity of 3,000 thanks in large part to the home grandstands that stretched from one 25 yard line to the other. When it was all said and done, Gustavus was considered one of the best athletically equipped schools in the northwest. That label was maintained over the next 76 years, as updates (press box, visitor seating, concession stand, handicap accessibility, etc…) kept the Stadium safe and sufficient.  Eventually however, because of the rising cost to keep the existing structure updated, talks for a new football facility began to take form. Those talks became a reality in the fall of 2007, as Gustavus dedicated its new state-of-the-art football stadium. The stadium, designed by TKDA architects and popularly known as Lloyd Hollingsworth field, cost a total of $4.6 million.  It features amenities such as handicapped accessibility, improved sightlines, a walled off playing surface, picnic areas on berm slopes, sidewalks circling the entire field, improved press facilities, and a VIP lounge. Because of these features, Lloyd Hollingsworth field was selected as 1 of 89 state of the art facilities built in 2007 by Athletic Business Magazine, further solidifying the college’s efforts to remain among the top as far as athletic facilities.