Roosevelt Stadium sits atop a roof in the nation's most densely populated county.
Photo by Glenn Kross
Where do you look to build a football stadium in the nation's most densely populated county?
Up.
That's what
Union City (N.J.) did in 2009, when it opened its new facility — Roosevelt Stadium — on the roof of its school building.
The high school, a combination of two now-defunct schools, Emerson and Union Hill, drew inspiration from a field on the campus of Georgetown University that lies on top of a parking garage.
View the full photo gallery of Union City's Roosevelt StadiumAccording to Union City athletic director David Clauser, the Board of Education was faced with a choice: build a new high school or a new athletic facility.
Creative thinking allowed the school to do both, giving birth to Roosevelt Stadium, which shares a name with the stadium it replaced — a structure created by the Works Progress Administration commissioned by Franklin Roosevelt.
The stadium is not without its unique set of challenges.
Balls occasionally sail out of both end zones and onto the streets below. Given the space limitations, the band is located in close proximity to the visitors' sideline, making it sometimes difficult to hear. They also have to deal with precautions that most fields normally don't encounter.
"We may be the only football field to have a game interrupted by a fire drill," Clauser said.
MaxPreps photographer Glenn Kross recently paid a visit to Roosevelt Stadium to document one of America's most unique high school football fields.The following are images he highlighted:
Check out Union City standout and Penn State commit Daiquan Kelly in action at Roosevelt Stadium in the video below.
