Facilities
| Nickerson Field | ||||
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Facility Layout: View Location 285 Babcock Street Boston, MA 02215 Map It! |
Description
A historically rich stadium located in the heart of the Boston University community, Nickerson Field is currently home to to the Terrier men's and women's soccer and women's lacrosse teams.
Most recently renovated in July of 2009 with the addition of a four-lane track around the field, Nickerson Field is a 10,412 seat, FIFA-approved FieldTurf facility that has played host to the 2006 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament and BU's 2008 NCAA Men's Soccer First Round match-up against Fairleigh Dickinson.
It is a stadium rich in the tradition of Boston sports history. Once the home of the Boston Braves National League baseball club and the site where Babe Ruth signed his last professional contract, it was purchased by the University on July 29, 1953.
The site, on Harry Agganis Way just north of busy Commonwealth Avenue, has undergone sweeping modifications in the last 50 years. The stadium owes its present layout largely to the birth of the Boston Patriots of the infant American Football League. Orphans before they played their first game, the Patriots joined with the University and completely reconstructed the stadium at a cost of over $300,000.
Additional seating and lights were obtained, new sod put down and a modern press box added. The Patriots, here for three seasons, played the first American Football League game in history on Friday night, September 9, 1960 against the Denver Broncos.
Nickerson Field was also the site of another first in professional football in 1983, as the Boston Breakers played their home games here during the initial season of the United States Football League. Other sports franchises that have called Nickerson home include the Boston Breakers of the WUSA from 2001-03 and the Boston Cannons of MLL from 2004-06.
The field was astroturfed in 1968 and refurbished in 1973, 1986, and 1995. In May of 2001, it was then converted from AstroTurf to FieldTurf, which is used by over 20 National Football League teams and over 40 major NCAA universities.
