Carson Park (football stadium)

Infobox_Stadium
stadium_name = Carson Park
location = One Carson Park Drive
Eau Claire, Wisconsin 54701
opened = 1936
owner = City of Eau Claire
operator = Eau Claire Parks and Recreation
surface = Natural grass (1936-2003), FieldTurf (2004-present)
construction_cost = $60,000
tenants = University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugolds (WIAC) (1937-1995), (1997-present)
Chippewa Valley Predators (Northern Elite Football League) (2005-present)
Eau Claire Crush (Northern Elite Football League) (2007-present)

seating_capacity = 6,500

Carson Park is a football stadium located in Carson Park, a park in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The stadium is home to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugolds, the Eau Claire Memorial, North and Regis High School football teams, and the Chippewa Valley Predators and Eau Claire Crush of the Northern Elite Football League.

The south side of the field -- the far sideline opposite the grandstand and press box -- is adjacent to the left field warning track of the Carson Park baseball stadium. During the football season, temporary bleachers from the baseball stadium are placed in left field along where the left field wall is to provide additional sideline seating for the football stadium.

History

The land that became home to Carson Park, located on a peninsula surrounded by Half Moon Lake in Eau Claire, was donated in 1914 to the city of Eau Claire by an heir to William Carson. The following year, the park was opened. Construction of a sports complex, including a baseball stadium, football stadium and tennis courts, began in 1935 as a Works Progress Administration project. The first game was played in the stadium in 1936. The UW-Eau Claire Blugold football team began play in the stadium in 1937.

A tornado that moved through Eau Claire on September 12, 1982, destroyed the press box at the football stadium. A larger, multi-level press box was constructed in the same location. A renovation to the football stadium's grandstand and separate concession/bathroom facilities took place in the late 1990s.

The stadium eventually became the home to multiple high school football teams in the city of Eau Claire. With more teams using the field in the fall, wear on the field increased, resulting in a deterioration of the grass during games played later in the season. During games played in wet conditions, mud became a factor, and games in following days would be played on a field with a noticeable amount of exposed dirt. The city of Eau Claire attempted several alternative natural grass fields, beginning in the 1990s. One field, using the Rebound system (consisting of bits of used rubber tires mixed in the grass), was installed in 1995, but did not prove durable. The UW-Eau Claire Blugolds moved their home games to Simpson Field on the upper campus of the university for one season in 1996 in an attempt to allow the grass field to take hold. Despite talks in 2002 about a new stadium for the Blugolds, a solution to the field problem came in 2004 with the installation of a FieldTurf artificial surface.

External links

* [http://www.uwec.edu/Athletics/Fb/ UW-Eau Claire Blugolds website]