Neil F. Lampson Stadium
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| NEIL F. LAMPSON STADIUM | |
|---|---|
| Location | 505 S. Garfield St., Kennewick, WA |
| Opened | 1966 |
| Renovated | 1994 |
| Owner | Kennewick School District # 17 |
| Surface | FieldTurf |
| Former names | The Lion's Den KHS Memorial Stadium |
| Tenants | Kennewick Lions Kamiakin Braves Southridge Suns |
| Capacity | 6,800 |
Neil F. Lampson Stadium is a stadium used by all three high schools in the Kennewick School District for many different sporting events, such as football and soccer. It seats roughly seven thousand people in its bleachers, and is often used for outdoor concerts.
The stadium, which was built on the footprint of the original football field built in 1965, is the first in the Tri-Cities area to have artificial turf as a play field. The original surface, which was AstroTurf placed on a sand underlayment, was replaced by a FieldTurf surface in spring of 2006.
A new permanent visitors bleacher facility, which includes restrooms and concession stands, was recently built on the stadium's north side. A previous effort in building permanent stands was found to be structurally unsound, which prompted the renovation bond issue.
The home bleachers on the south side were also expanded, to the sides as well as upward, with an elevator added for wheelchair access to the top of the stands. The west end of the stadium has a locker room/ticket booth facility, with four locker rooms built on it: three for the three high schools that share the stadium, as well as a fourth for visiting teams.
New light standards were erected as well, replacing the older, wooden standards that had served the stadium since 1965. The new standards use Metal halide lamp lights, which are brighter than the old incandescent lights.
The stadium was named after Neil F. Lampson, a Kennewick High alumni and founder of a company which specializes in large mobile construction cranes. Lampson died in 1994, mere weeks after the stadium was named for him. Although the Lampson company does not pay naming rights to the field, the Lampson company flag flies at the northwest corner of the stadium, along with the U.S. flag and the Washington flag, each on their own flagpole.
The stadium is located on the grounds of Kennewick High School, at 505 South Garfield Street in Kennewick, Washington.
