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Aggie Memorial Stadium

New Mexico stadium

Summary

New Mexico stadium

FieldValue
nameJoey Mullen Field at Aggie Memorial Stadium
imageAggie Memorial Stadium - West Side Stands & Press Box 01.JPG
image_size250px
captionView from southeast corner in 2015
addressStewart St & Payne St
locationNew Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico, U.S.
coordinates
mapframeyes
mapframe-zoom15
pushpin_mapUSA#New Mexico
pushpin_relief1
pushpin_map_captionLocation in the United States##Location in New Mexico
pushpin_labelLas Cruces
broke_ground
opened
ownerNew Mexico State University
operatorNew Mexico State University
record_attendance32,993 (vs. UTEP, 1998)
surfaceUBU Sports Speed S5-M synthetic turf-- (2014–present)
Hybrid Bermuda grass
(1978–2013)
construction_cost$4 million
($ in )
architectCraig Protz of
Bohening-Protz Associates;
Caudill Rowlett Scott of Houston, Consultants
tenantsNew Mexico State Aggies (NCAA)
Football (1978–present)
Women's soccer (2009–2011)
Las Cruces HS–Mayfield HS derby (1978-present)
Organ Mountain HS–Centennial HS derby (2017–present)
seating_capacity28,853 (2015–present)
30,343 (1978–2014)

Las Cruces, New Mexico, U.S. | mapframe-zoom = 15 Hybrid Bermuda grass (1978–2013) ($ in ) Bohening-Protz Associates; Caudill Rowlett Scott of Houston, Consultants Football (1978–present) Women's soccer (2009–2011) Las Cruces HS–Mayfield HS derby (1978-present) Organ Mountain HS–Centennial HS derby (2017–present) 30,343 (1978–2014) Aggie Memorial Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in the southwestern United States, located on the campus of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico. It is the home field of the New Mexico State Aggies of Conference USA.

Opened in 1978, the current seating capacity is 28,853. Its artificial turf playing field is aligned north-northwest to south-southeast at an elevation of 3980 ft above sea level. It is the former home of Aggies women's soccer.

Prior to 1978

The original football field for New Mexico A&M was located just northwest of the Horseshoe at Espina Street and College Drive, on the site now occupied by Skeen Hall. Known as Miller Field, its entrance gates, constructed in 1924, still stand on a traffic island in front of Skeen Hall's main entrance. In 1933. Aggie football moved to a new field located just to the northeast of Hadley Hall (the university's Administration building), originally known as Quesenberry Field. The original Memorial Stadium was built at the same site in 1950. It was dedicated as a memorial to New Mexico A&M students who had died in World War II, World War I, and the Spanish–American War, among whom was Henry C. Gilbert Jr., whose parents were instrumental in the 10-year-long fundraising drive.

Memorial Stadium, which served for 28 seasons, was replaced both due to its small size (maximum seating capacity of 12,155) and the want of an expanded athletics plant with more infrastructure and parking. (Currently Memorial Tower, which was originally part of the press box of the stadium, is the only remaining reminder of the stadium. It is now structurally incorporated into the university's Health and Social Services building and houses a memorial lounge and computer lab.)

The "New" stadium

The "new" Aggie Memorial Stadium, dedicated to alumni who had served in the Korean War and Vietnam War, was built for $4 million over a period of 18 months. It was funded by the state legislature as part of a capital project on the campus.

Its inaugural game in 1978 saw the Aggies defeat nearby rival Texas–El Paso (UTEP) 35–32 on September 16. Twenty years (and ten days) later, the Aggies and UTEP Miners played to the largest attendance (32,993) in stadium history, as the Aggies won again, 33–24.

For its first 36 seasons, the playing field was natural grass; UBU Sports Speed S5-M synthetic turf was installed prior to the 2014 season.

Stadium design

Designed by alumnus Craig Protz of Bohering-Protz Associates, the stadium was built just to the south of the Pan American Center, the home of Aggie basketball. It boasts a unique design in which earth that was excavated to construct the lower bowl and field level was moved to the sides of the stadium to support the upper level, with a street level concourse dividing the lower and upper bowls.

The first level of seating wraps around the field, except for two 100 ft gaps behind each end zone. The southern end is a grass berm, with the Fulton Athletics Center, a $6 million structure constructed in 2004 housing athletics offices, an athletic training and education center, and club facilities, behind it. The northern end leads to the locker room facilities and main entrance to the stadium.

Because of these gaps it was previously impossible to access the east side of the stadium from the west, and vice versa, without exiting the stadium and re-entering on the other side. A bridge over the north ramp constructed prior to the 2006 season now allows fans to cross from one side of the stadium to the other. The seating extends to a rounded second level on either side of the field, which extends the length of the playing field. The curved, undulating design of the upper level is reminiscent of similarly designed structures such as Memphis' Liberty Bowl Stadium and the now-demolished Tampa Stadium, albeit on a somewhat smaller scale.

Improvements

The original four pole sodium vapor lighting system is now augmented by four additional smaller poles added prior to the 2005 season to increase the stadium's lighting capacity for televised night games. A $1.5 million scoreboard, including a 38 x video screen, was added in 2007, as well as a new team meeting and video room complex adjacent to the field house on the stadium's north end. A club level area called Club 27 was added in 2015, which reduced the stadium's total capacity to 28,853, but added 92 club level seats at the cost of $1.1 million.

Attendance records

New Mexico State Aggiescolor=white}}"RankNew Mexico State Aggiescolor=white}}"AttendanceNew Mexico State Aggiescolor=white}}"DateNew Mexico State Aggiescolor=white}}"Game Result
132,993September 26, 1998New Mexico State 33, UTEP 24
232,904September 13, 1986UTEP 47, New Mexico State 33
331,839September 18, 1993New Mexico State 31, UTEP 14
431,214September 24, 2004New Mexico 38, New Mexico State 3
530,605October 5, 2002New Mexico State 49, UTEP 14
630,343September 27, 2009New Mexico 35, New Mexico State 24
September 15, 2007New Mexico State 29, UTEP 24
September 3, 2005UTEP 34, New Mexico State 17
930,341September 14, 1991UTEP 22, New Mexico State 21
1030,193September 16, 1978New Mexico State 35, UTEP 32
1130,061October 29, 1988UTEP 42, New Mexico State 9
1229,921September 2, 1995New Mexico State 45, UTEP 17
1329,095September 9, 2006New Mexico 34, New Mexico State 28
1428,587November 21, 2002New Mexico State 24, New Mexico 13
1527,646September 12, 1992New Mexico State 42, New Mexico 39
1627,306September 4, 1982UTEP 20, New Mexico State 17
1727,238September 8, 2001Oregon State 27, New Mexico State 22
1827,201September 12, 2015Georgia State 34, New Mexico State 32
1926,528October 22, 1994New Mexico 56, New Mexico State 31
2026,271September 29, 1979New Mexico 30, New Mexico State 16

Other uses

In addition to football, the stadium occasionally hosts major concerts and other large outdoor gatherings on campus.

Concerts

Artists that have performed at the stadium include Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Faith No More, The Eagles, Vans Warped Tour & Paul McCartney, among others.

New Mexico State Aggiescolor=#FFFFFF}};DateNew Mexico State Aggiescolor=#FFFFFF}};ArtistNew Mexico State Aggiescolor=#FFFFFF}};Opening act(s)New Mexico State Aggiescolor=#FFFFFF}};Tour / Concert nameNew Mexico State Aggiescolor=#FFFFFF}};AttendanceNew Mexico State Aggiescolor=#FFFFFF}};RevenueNew Mexico State Aggiescolor=#FFFFFF}};Notes
August 27, 1992Guns N' Roses
MetallicaFaith No MoreGuns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour35,373 / 35,373$972,758
April 20, 1993Paul McCartney—The New World Tour30,058 / 30,058$1,002,625
May 3, 1995The Eagles—Hell Freezes Over Tour——

Other events

During the 2005–06 renovation of the nearby Pan American Center, the stadium hosted the university's commencement ceremonies, although they returned to the Pan Am following completion of the renovations. Also, the varsity teams of Mayfield High School and Las Cruces High School play against each other in the stadium every year in November. Since November 2017, Onate High School (renamed Organ Mountain High School in 2021) and Centennial High School also play each other in the stadium.

References

References

  1. "Aggie Soccer to Play in Aggie Memorial Stadium - NMStateSports.com - The Official Website of New Mexico State Athletics".
  2. (October 13, 2020). "NMSU community in favor of gateway design proposal".
  3. "Facilities".
  4. [http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/paul-mccartney/1993/aggie-memorial-stadium-las-cruces-nm-23d2387f.html Paul McCartney Setlist Aggie Memorial Stadium, Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA on 20 April 1993]
  5. "Eagles Setlist at Aggie Memorial Stadium, las Cruces".
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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