Dartmouth Gains Town Approval to Install Lights at Memorial Field

HANOVER, N.H. — Dartmouth College will install lights at its football stadium, Memorial Field, now that the Hanover Planning Board unanimously approved the project at a meeting on Tuesday night. While the primary purpose of the lights will be to extend practice hours on the durable artificial surface, the college will also be able to host up to five evening events at the stadium each year.

The project is funded by Chris Jenny, Class of 1977, and his wife, Andi, along with other generous donors through the Friends of Dartmouth Football.

“We're very grateful to Chris and Andi Jenny, and the Friends of Dartmouth Football for funding this exciting project,” Athletics Director Harry Sheehy stated. “Generations of football players and other student-athletes will benefit from the expanded practice time, and we hope the entire community will enjoy the excitement of night football games.”

The college will install seven light towers that will be no taller than 60 feet from the ground. Three of the poles will sit atop the Floren Varsity House on the east side of the stadium, one will be at each end of the west stands with another behind the stands, and the seventh tower will be located in front of Leverone Field House. As recommended by the NCAA, the power of the lights will be 30-foot candles for practices and 50-foot candles for games.

In addition to the lighting project, the college will also install a sound system that provides higher quality sound for stadium spectators. Both the lighting and sound systems will utilize the latest technology to focus each on the stadium and minimize the impact on the neighborhood.

The installation of lights at Memorial Field will give the football team — as well as other varsity and club teams — a second lighted outdoor artificial surface on which practices can be held after daylight hours. With most classes ending at 3 p.m., this will be particularly useful when Daylight Savings Time ends in the fall and sunset can occur as early as 4:15 p.m. Practices under the lights would not, however, extend beyond 9 p.m., and the sound system would not be used for practices. Any event that takes place in the evening will be scheduled to begin no later than 7 p.m.

The Memorial Field playing surface was renovated in 2006 with the installation of FieldTurf, an infill product that looks and performs much more like natural grass than earlier artificial surfaces. In 2008, FieldTurf was also installed in Scully-Fahey Field, currently Dartmouth's only lighted, outdoor artificial field.

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