Jacksonville, Florida - Edward Waters College (EWC) has unveiled an official rendering of its new Community Field and Athletic Stadium.  The stadium will serve as home to the Tiger football team, as well as the College's new women's soccer program. The $4.3 million facility boasts a total potential seating capacity of 5,000 and is now under construction. Designed by architects PVB Architecture, founded by Mr. Ted Pappas, in a "European-style" arrangement with steeply-raked and sweeping seating areas, along with standing room areas around the open-air artificial turf stadium is meant to bring viewers in a closer relationship to the field and players.

"The new state-of-the-art athletic facility is intended to boost recruiting and assist in the establishment of a new more marketplace relevant institutional brand to increase the College's overall competitive profile (i.e., both academic and non-academic) and visibility to foundationally support institutional growth," said EWC President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. A. Zachary Faison, Jr.

"An on-campus stadium is going to create a different level of engagement and excitement for our dynamic EWC students" stated EWC Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, Mr. Paul Bryant. "This project will also allow us to engage with the New Town community in new ways".

The stadium will consist of a grandstand on the home side of the field and will have a seating capacity of 2,000. The grandstand will have three tiers, an elevator, restrooms, and the south end zone will feature the scoreboard and an open plaza. The first tier will be the home coach's box, an area for working press and staff, and the President's Box to be used by the President, honored guests, and corporate donors. The second tier will be a covered canopy for visiting coaches and filming areas and the third tier will be the Concession areas and restrooms.

Equally important, the stadium will have the latest version of FieldTurf, which is the most trusted brand of artificial turf for sports fields and is the top choice for NFL fields. Whether it's football or soccer, FieldTurf fields provide athletes with the safety and performance they need to perform at their best. FieldTurf is a world leader in artificial turf with over 20,000 installations worldwide. For example, the company has installed and supervised surfaces for the 2013, 2014, 2017, & 2018 Super Bowls. Most important, the Community Field and Athletic Stadium artificial turf will also contain brock padding and a cork granulate, which will allow for a cooler surface.

"Adding this type of infield will permit for year-round usage for our teams and the community," said EWC AD, Mr. Paul Bryant.

Accordingly, Tiger fans will be greeted by a life-sized bronze Tiger statue upon entrance into the Community Field and Athletic Stadium. The Tiger will be designed by classically-trained Master Sculptor, Mr. Brian Hanlon of Hanlon Sculpture Studio, a full-service art studio in New Jersey. He is also the official Master Sculptor for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and has been commissioned by private foundations, alumni associations, universities, and the National Football League.

The EWC Community Field Stadium & Athletic Stadium is tentatively scheduled for completion on or before September 2020, just in time for EWC's first home game against the Dragons of Lane College on September 19th.