Plans for new lacrosse stadium on north campus

[HofstraPride1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIaBCvisrLg

President Poser mentoned in her state of the university speech at around 5:30 mark at link above how plans are being explored to build a new lacrosse stadium on north campus in open space near Mack and softball field, tear down Shuart Stadium and create a "college town" district in that space. I have mixed feelings about this but in general I think would have many positives for the university in terms of creating a vibrant business area for students and lacrosse being close to other athletic facilities with smaller venue could also be great as well. Only negative is not being able to host NCAA quarterfinals anymore and would sicken me if Stony Brook got to host instead. Either way this is probably a long ways off as right now are just in exploratory stage. What do others think?

[Pbdutch]

I think it’s all a waste of time and money until tierney is gone and the program is brought back. Until then, they might as well just get rid of the program. That’s how embarrassing it’s become.

[Mikey77]

Save Shuart! It has too much historic significance. Bad idea in my view.

[The Shadow]

Not only would the stadium be gone, but also the Margiotta Field House with all the lockers, weight rooms, meeting rooms, offices, and more. Also, there is a study area in the press box area for the Lax athletes. Will there be sufficient parking by the new Lax area for thousands of stadium attendees? Also, is James Metzger going to be in favor of this plan? Edit: I just remembered, what about the Howdy Meyers Pavillion? He is arguably one of the most influential figures in Long Island Lax. He was a national champion lax coach at Johns Hopkins who helped start the game in many Long Island areas. There are many big HU contributors to HU history that should not be forgotten. President Shuart helped save a nearly bankrupt Hofstra in the early 1970"s. Much of this information was told to me by my Dad. Another edit: What happens to the bricks the HU Alumni have donated by the two lions near the ticket stands on the south side os Shuart Stadium? Also, there are bricks from the locker room to the field listing all the Lax victories for about 75 years. All of this should be respected and thought about before any definitive plans on a new location is even considered.

[stuball888]

James Metzgers name will probably be on the new stadium
If this happens the name of Shuart and Margiotta and Harry Royle will be gone from the Hofstra campus
Not to get political but it is similar to tearing down statues
Is this erasing our past

[Mikey77]

Bad, bad, bad idea. Susan Poser is not a Long Islander and doesn't know Shuart's lacrosse and football history. She's losing me on this one.

[HofstraPride1]

https://libn.com/2025/09/18/hofstra-eye ... -property/

Here is a Long Island Business News story on this potential project. I understand not wanting Shuart torn down given its Hofstra lacrosse/football history and hosting first NCAA men's lacrosse national title game between Cornell and Maryland in 1971, but if it is only going to host lacrosse where regular season crowds are often only around 1K or less, it probably does make sense to consider transforming area into something else while building a smaller and more modern venue across the street. Other than the NCAA quarterfinals and some of the high school football playoff games, there are usually not big crowds at Shuart unfortunately.

[stuball888]

This is also Poser reply for never having Hofstra have football again

[Mikey77]

She has totally lost me on this one. A College Town? What the Hell does that even mean? You rip down a Hofstra and Long Island legacy for that? Will it be baby Levittown? First football, now this. They will put up some rinky dink facility where that inflatable dome now is further setting back Hofstra athletics. I don't know why even bother anymore.

[HofstraPride1]

She has totally lost me on this one. A College Town? What the Hell does that even mean? You rip down a Hofstra and Long Island legacy for that? Will it be baby Levittown? First football, now this. They will put up some rinky dink facility where that inflatable dome now is further setting back Hofstra athletics. I don't know why even bother anymore.

A college town community with businesses/amenities would have many positives for students. Fittingly Rabinowitz explored doing a college town in 2013 in the open space by softball field where new lacrosse stadium would be built but it never came to fruition. Maybe they think Shuart Stadium site would offer more potential for private investment in such a project.

[stuball888]

Wasn't Shuart stadium also used for Hofstra graduations and high school graduations

[stuball888]

Rather than building a whole new stadium why don't they add stands on the opposite side of the soccer field and let lacrosse play there they could probably get as many as 2500 seats

[Jojogunne]

All four teams (MSOC, WSOC, MLAX, WLAX) use their facilities year round. That's probably 150 athletes all told. Captains Field couldn't accommodate them all. Plus, when you build a new lacrosse field, you would need to include a building for offices, locker rooms, weight rooms, equipment, etc.

As for graduations, I believe they all take place in the arena now. Air-conditioning is a big attraction in June.

[JoeyBagODonuts1]

I assume that since the stadium currently backs up to Hempstead Tpke, that would probably be the "front" of this College Town. With very little description to go on, it sounds like something similar to what they built at Rowan University. There are retail shops for the whole community on the ground floor, with dorms on the upper floors.

As for the naming of facilities, they can name the new stadium after Shuart and some other facility there after Myers. Before it was expanded and named for Margiotta, the field house was named for Howdy Myers. When they renamed it for Joe M, they built the pavilion and moved Howdy's name over there.
As for the bricks at the entrance plaza, I own one and I haven't cared about it since 2009.

[JoeyBagODonuts1]

This will give you an idea of what they did at Rowan. I'm sure the Hofstra project would be on a much smaller scale:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/K4CySLCh5CrSutBc7?g_st=ac

[The Shadow]

The Field House was never named for Howdy Meyers according to my Dad. It was named after Chick Meehan the former football coach at Syracuse, NYU, and Manhattan. Meehan became a consultant to Hofstra. As for the bricks, they are much more meaningful to other families.

[JoeyBagODonuts1]

The Field House was never named for Howdy Meyers according to my Dad. It was named after Chick Meehan the former football coach at Syracuse, NYU, and Manhattan. Meehan became a consultant to Hofstra.

Your father's memory is better than mine.

[JoeyBagODonuts1]

As you can see from this Google Maps image, there is a large unused area in the northeast corner of the campus that can be used for this stadium.

[cactus]

Hofstra is a forgotten place on long island unless you have some connection to it.

The few times I've been able to get out to play pickleball with my wife, or going to run club locally, we're always wearing hofstra basketball gear (thanks to the new logo I need to replace like half my wardrobe) but people will inevitably ask if they are division 1 basketball. All the time. 15 minutes from their house is division 1 basketball and people who are active and into sports have no idea.

Honestly that's pretty inexcusable. Yes it's a pro sports town, but they've had some pretty damn good teams and players here recently, and some pretty cool history, for people to have no idea. But if you asked me for any thoughts how to fix it (and no one at the school ever did ask, or even seemed to care, until this past year), I wouldn't have an answer. People won't go just to watch a game, even with free tickets with a good opponent on a weekend (trust me, I've tried). Would a college town area visible from a main street, walkable to the stadium, and done right bring people in for events/restaurants/shopping etc. so there's more to do than just the basketball game? Would events there for students tied to the games get a lot more of them to show up?

It might be too late with NIL if they aren't competitive and aren't also willing to invest there, but if the answer to those things are yes, then this might make a lot of sense, at least in terms of exposure for the school. Obviously don't just tear down the stadium and remove all the lacrosse history, that has to be done the right way as well.

[stuball888]

Now that we have NIL the its seems like the NCAA has relaxed some of the rules I have an idea
All throughout Long Island in the spring summer and fall they have street fairs in almost every town all with 20 minutes of Hofstra
This Saturday is the Bellmore street fair which gets between 50,000 to 100,000 people for the weekend event
For a nominal fee Hofstra can set up booths and either the coaches or some athletes giving away possibly some tickets or free sports gear
team up with the local chambers of commerce in each town to get additional exposure