page_title: Petersen Sports Complex
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Petersen Sports Complex / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Entrance and ticket window at the Petersen Sports Complex at the University of Pittsburgh
context_page_description: The Petersen Sports Complex is a 12.32-acre multi-sport athletic facility on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It houses Charles L. Cost Field, Vartabedian Field, and Ambrose Urbanic Field, the respective home practice and competition venues of the university's NCAA Division I varsity athletic baseball, softball, and men's and women's soccer teams. Known as the Pittsburgh Panthers, these teams compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The complex is located adjacent to the school's Trees Hall and Cost Sports Center near the remainder of the university's other upper campus athletic facilities.
context_section_description: The sports complex was a project that had been in development since the 1999 closure of Pitt Stadium on the university's campus. With the demolition of the stadium, the soccer teams, track & field teams, marching band and many intramural programs of the university lost their homes. The university's baseball and softball teams had long been playing in what had been deemed as inadequate facilities on Trees Field tucked behind the school's indoor Cost Sports Center. In the interim, the soccer teams had moved their home games to off-campus Founders Field in Cheswick.
  The complex was built on the former Robinson Court housing project. The land was obtained after five years of sometimes contentious negotiations between the university, a housing developer, and the City of Pittsburgh. The final cost of the 12.3-acre (50,000 m²) site for the university was a total contribution of $7 million in payments and community contributions which doubled the 2005 bid of several developers. The land sale was formally approved and Pitt acquired the parcel in the second half of 2008. Ground was broken on the complex in the fall of that year. The estimated cost of the complex's construction is $29 million. It is named after alumnus John Petersen and his wife Gertrude who donated an undisclosed amount for its construction. The baseball field has been named Charles L. Cost Field, after an alumnus who is also the namesake of the neighboring Cost Sports Center, while the softball field has been named Vartabedian Field and the soccer field has been named Ambrose Urbanic Field. The Petersen Sports Complex hosted its first official athletic contest with a March 16, 2011 baseball game between Pitt and Kent State. Grand opening ceremonies, termed the "First Pitch Event", occurred on April 9, 2011, and featured contests involving all four sports teams that will use the facility.
  Following completion of the sports complex, the former baseball and softball facilities on Trees Field are planned to be turned into a new track and field complex.
caption: Main entrance and ticket plaza
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