After the completion of the new press box and stands at Armfield stadium, the second phase of renovations is now underway. The bleachers for visiting teams have been removed and construction of newer and safer seating has begun. “The visitor’s bleachers were rusting and in a state of disrepair,” said Athletic Director Marion Kirby. “They’ve been there since before I came here. The new bleachers will probably not be as wide, but the new seats will be elevated and more to the middle, like the seating we put in with the press box.”

The replacing of the old bleachers is part of Phase Two of the Armfield Athletic Center renovation plans. Phase One included the construction of the new press box and scoreboard. The next step in Phase Two, after replacing the away bleachers, is to add lights to the stadium.

“With the lights, we can start scheduling games in the evening, so it’s not quite as hot for the players,” said Kirby. The lights will be optimized so that there is minimal off-site spill and an efficient monitoring system implemented to ensure that bulb outages are quickly fixed.

The estimated cost for the bleachers and lighting is $350,000 and the entire project is estimated to cost $2.5 million. Since no part of the school’s budget is allocated to this project, all of the money used to renovate the stadium comes from alumni donations

“Alumni are continuing to give to Armfield with a goal of improving the playing surface for men’s and women’s sports,” said Anne Hurd, director of development.

Currently, the sports played in the stadium include football and men’s and women’s lacrosse. The men’s and women’s soccer teams play in the Haworth Fields located in the northwest corner of Guilford’s campus. Phase Three of the renovation plan would allow for all sports to be played in the stadium.

“We want to put in a new synthetic turf so we can play all our sports out there,” said Kirby. “(The new turf) would also allow us to have a place to practice after heavy rains without hurting the fields.”

“When we decided to renovate the stadium, we went to the Armfield family and proposed that we needed some upgrades,” said Kirby. “Some other alumni got involved, and we started raising money. We could only do this through donations.