Construction recently began for an NCAA-compliant, 225- by 360-foot all-weather synthetic turf field along with a press box, bleachers and full stadium lighting to be completed by the summer of 2015, according to Susan Viscomi, the college's director of athletics.

     "Having a turf facility for our athletics program will be an invaluable resource," Viscomi said. "Given the weather challenges, having a synthetic surface with lights affords us much more flexibility with both practices and games. It will provide our student-athletes the opportunity to compete on equal footing with our opponents."

     The $2.37 million turf facility will be located between the two game fields for soccer and softball, across Sheldon Avenue from Romney Field House.

     Syracuse-based Appel Osborne Landscape Architecture consulted for the project, while Robert H. Law Inc. of East Syracuse was awarded the bid and began site preparations earlier in September. The college’s Facilities Design and Construction is overseeing the project with Bob Lloyd as project manager.

     On the turf, lines for soccer, men's and women's lacrosse and field hockey will be permanently inlaid on the playing surface. The center logo will be Oswego State athletics' word mark, which will stretch from just above one lacrosse offensive zone to the other. 

     Across from the bleachers, on the opposite side of the facility, will be a new 16-foot LED scoreboard with a color electronic message display. Spread out on each side of the scoreboard will be two lighting structures, which will be mirrored on the bleacher side as well.

     The improvements will dramatically increase opportunities to widen the visibility of field sports at Oswego State, accommodating more fans at events and media to broadcast games.

     The turf stadium will have permanent bleachers that will be built to accommodate 1,000 fans. At the top of the seating area will be a 10- by 48-foot press box that will host statisticians and the public address announcer along with local and student media groups. A camera deck atop the press box will allow for games to be broadcasted to multiple platforms, including Internet streaming.

     "It will be good exposure for many of our outdoor sports as the stadium press box comes with the infrastructure to produce live video and radio for their games," said Sport Information Director Mike Bielak. "These teams will now gain the quality student-run broadcasts that our indoor teams and their fans have grown accustomed to."