Arthur J. Rooney Athletic Field is a 4,500-seat multi-purpose facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

. Situated on the campus of Duquesne University

Duquesne University

Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit is a private Catholic university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened its doors as the Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost in October 1878 with an enrollment of...

, it is the home field of the Duquesne Dukes

Duquesne Dukes

The Duquesne Dukes are the athletic teams of Duquesne University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Duquesne has played men's basketball only in NCAA Division I and has played football as a club team from 1891–1894, 1896–1903, 1913–1914, and 1920–1928, in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision ...

 football team.

Its location atop the Bluff

Bluff (Pittsburgh)

The Bluff or Uptown is a neighborhood in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to the southeast of the city's Central Business District. It is bordered in the north by the Hill District and just a short trip across the Monongahela River is the city's South Side, which is home to a flourishing...

 in the center of Duquesne's campus makes Rooney Field one of the most unusual football facilities in the nation. Bordered by Academic Walk on one side and Mellon Hall of Science and the Duquesne Towers Living and Learning Center on either end, the field offers scenic views of downtown Pittsburgh, the Monongahela River, and Pittsburgh's South Side.

Rooney Field has enjoyed the national spotlight as the host of three televised games. On Monday, October 31, 1994, ESPN2

ESPN2

ESPN2 is an American sports cable television network owned by ESPN. The channel debuted on October 1, 1993.Originally nicknamed "the deuce," ESPN2 was initially branded as a network for a younger generation of sports fans featuring edgier graphics as well as extreme sports like motocross,...

 televised Duquesne's 16–12 win over Iona College

Iona College (New York)

Iona College is located in New Rochelle, New York, 20 miles north of Manhattan in suburban Westchester County. The college occupies 35 acres on North Ave. The college also operates a Graduate Center in Pearl River, Rockland County, New York....

 to a national audience. In addition, two games in 1995—the MAAC

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. MAAC teams compete in the NCAA's Division I. Most of the members are Catholic or formerly Catholic institutions; the only exception is the private but secular Rider...

 Championship-deciding game versus St. John's and the ECAC Bowl

ECAC Bowl

The Eastern College Athletic Conference Bowl was a college football bowl game played from 1989 to 2003. From 1993 until its cancellation in 2003, the game pitted the champion of the Northeast Conference against the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion...

 game vs. Wagner

Wagner College

Wagner College is a private, co-educational, national liberal arts college with an enrollment of approximately 2,400 total students located atop Grymes Hill in New York City's borough of Staten Island...

—were aired locally by was then the Prime Sports Network

Prime Network

The Prime Network was a group of regional sports networks owned by Liberty Media that served several regionalized areas that was in operation between 1983 and late-1997. While Liberty owned many of these stations, some were affiliates and owned by other companies...

.

Description

The 1993 completion of Rooney Field enabled the Dukes to play football on campus for the first time since 1929. A 6 feet (1.8 m) excavation transformed what was once a faculty and staff parking lot into the centerpiece of Duquesne University's urban campus. The space limitations inherent to the university's 49 acres (19.8 ha) plot required that Rooney Field be one of the few in college football that run east to west.

The Beard Press Box, a three-tier structure funded by a contribution from the Eugene Beard family, was completed in the summer of 1995. The field itself is named for Duquesne alumnus and founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...

, Art Rooney

Art Rooney

Arthur Joseph "Art" Rooney, Sr. , often referred to as "The Chief", was the founding owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers American football franchise in the National Football League.-Family history:...

. Prior to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Sportsplex

UPMC Sports Performance Complex

The UPMC Sports Performance Complex is a multipurpose, multisport training, sports science, and sports medical complex of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center...

opening in 2000 the field and other university facilities served as either the primary or secondary in-season training facilities for the Steelers since their founding in 1933.

In addition to serving as home for the Duquesne men's and women's soccer and lacrosse teams, numerous other activities are held on Rooney Field. Various camps, team practices and intramural activities keep the field in constant use.

Renovations

Bolstered by the first half of a $4 million renovation completed in 2009, the lighted, Sportexe turf-covered facility celebrates its seventeenth full-season anniversary in 2010.

Part of the recently completed renovation is permanent grandstand seating on Bluff Street, which replaces temporary bleachers that had been installed for fourteen football seasons. Permanent concession stands and restrooms have also been added to the south side of the field. The Academic Walk sideline has also gained additional seating. As part of the second stage of the renovation, the fieldhouse located at the east end of the field will be remodeled and expanded to provide an area for a new football locker room, football coaches' suite, and additional locker room space for the soccer, lacrosse, and swim teams. Fieldhouse construction is scheduled to begin following the 2008–2009 athletics season.