Alumni Stadium

Construction Photo Updates
• March 2009 
• April 2009 
• July 2009 

A new era in Notre Dame soccer began on April 26, 2008, when groundbreaking ceremonies were held for the brand-new $5.7 million home for Fighting Irish men's and women's soccer, Alumni Stadium.

Actual construction work on the stadium began in the summer of 2008, with a tentative completion date of August 2009. The site for the soccer facility is east of the Joyce Center and directly south of LaBar Practice Fields, which debuted in August 2008.

Plans for the stadium include a lighted facility that will feature a natural grass field, locker rooms, restrooms and concession areas. The new Alumni Stadium will sit side-by-side Notre Dame's new lacrosse facility, Arlotta Stadium, for which ground was broken on April 18, 2008 (the soccer facility will be situated further west, the lacrosse stadium further east).

The soccer project is part of the University's long-term athletics facilities master plan that ultimately will add new stadiums for soccer, lacrosse, track and field, and tennis, all in the area east and southeast of the Joyce Center. Besides the LaBar Fields, the most recently completed venue is Melissa Cook Stadium, Notre Dame's new softball facility that was dedicated earlier in April 2008. Other future elements of the athletics facilities master plan include a new rowing boathouse on the St. Joseph River, as well as the construction of Purcell Pavilion (basketball/volleyball), the cornerstone of an extensive Joyce Center renovation that began in September 2008, and the new Lefty Smith Rink, which will be constructed on the south edge of the athletics quad near Edison Road.

Among those present at the groundbreaking ceremonies for Alumni Stadium were lead benefactors and former Fighting Irish men's soccer players Tom Crotty and Rob Snyder, along with Notre Dame deputy athletics director Missy Conboy, men's soccer coach Bobby Clark, women's soccer coach Randy Waldrum and players from both the Fighting Irish men's and women's soccer teams.

Originally from Darien, Conn., Crotty starred for the Irish from 1977-79, playing midfield and fullback in 60 games, earning three monograms and finishing with 23 career points (eight goals, seven assists). He played in Notre Dame's first three seasons of varsity soccer (under coach Rich Hunter), serving as one of the team captains as a senior in '79. He was voted MVP of the '79 Notre Dame team and led the Irish to a combined 57-14-3 record in those three years.

A 1980 Notre Dame graduate with a degree in finance, Crotty is currently general partner with Battery Ventures LP in Wellesley, Mass. He and his wife Shari live in Southborough, Mass.

From Dallas, Texas, Snyder earned two monograms while playing forward, participating in 51 games in 1980-81-83 and accounting for 68 points (23 goals - and 22 assists that rank him seventh on Notre Dame's career chart). He tied for the team lead in goals in 1981 with 12. Snyder played on Hunter-coached teams that finished a combined 54-14-3 in his three seasons (including 35-3-1 at home).

Snyder is a 1984 Notre Dame graduate with a degree in government. He is the founder and CEO of Stream Energy in Dallas.

The gifts by Crotty and Snyder are components of the $1.5 billion "Spirit of Notre Dame" capital campaign, the largest such endeavor in the history of Catholic higher education.