 Lockhart
Stadium
Fort Lauderdale, FL
The Florida Atlantic Owls are one of the newest
members of the Sun Belt conference. Lockhart Stadium was originally
built as a high school stadium in the late 1950s. The first game
played at the stadium was on September 18, 1959 when the Central
Catholic Raiders played the Fort Lauderdale Flying L's. It originally
had a seating capacity of around 6,800.
The facility was named in
honor of H.Y. Lockhart, the former Fort Lauderdale Commissioner. Over
the years, the stadium has hosted many events from soccer games to
numerous football games from the high school to college level. It has
been the home of the Florida Atlantic Owls since 2001. In 1998, the
stadium underwent a $5 million expansion/renovation project. This was
done for the newly formed Major League Soccer franchise, the Miami
Fusion, who have since been contracted. The seating capacity of the stadium was increased to just over
20,000. The Owls plan to build a new stadium in Boca Raton, FL by
2011. This stadium will be modeled after UCF's Bright House Networks
Stadium and will seat 30,000 fans. |
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