Building the Future: Athletics Renovation
Major Renovation for
Tiger Athletics
It’s time for a major renovation for RIT athletic facilities. The upgrades are the most significant on campus since the 2014 opening of the Gene Polisseni Center — home to men’s and women’s hockey. The improvements will benefit more than 650 Tiger student-athletes.
The first phase of the multi-million-dollar athletics project included the relocation of the outdoor track to a new area with an upgraded synthetic running surface. The baseball and softball fields were upgraded to all-weather artificial turf fields.
Next up: the installation of a state-of-the-art artificial turf field as well as the construction of a full Tiger stadium complex featuring locker rooms, training facilities, and concessions, as well as a press box and premium suite accommodations. The new stadium will be home to men’s and women’s lacrosse as well as men’s and women’s soccer. Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin in the summer of 2023 and is expected to be completed in 2025.
Special Features
The athletic upgrades will complement The Gene Polisseni Center, located on the south end of campus. Polisseni, dedicated in 2014, is home to the RIT Division I men's and women's hockey teams. The arena 4,000, with additional standing room only space for a total capacity of 4,300 fans.
RIT has two Division I teams—men’s hockey and women’s hockey—and 22 Division III teams that compete in the Liberty League. In addition, thousands of students participate in club and intramural sports.
Championships
RIT teams have won five NCAA national championships:
Men’s Hockey
The team won a Division II national championship in 1983 and a Division III crown in 1985. In addition, RIT was a 2010 NCAA Frozen Four finalist and has won three Atlantic Hockey championships and four regular season Atlantic Hockey championships.
Men’s Lacrosse
The men’s lacrosse team won back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022.
Women’s Hockey
The women’s hockey team won a Division III national championship in 2012.
These facilities will be seen as a new entry point for campus and will create great exposure for RIT Athletics. When you come on campus, you will soon see four new athletic facilities — a true focal point for Tiger spirit …
This will also be a huge recruitment tool with the artificial turf fields and the ability to use them year-round. This also gives us the ability to have camps and clinics (for youth and high school athletes) and be a host year-round.
