MIAMI (April 3, 2017) -- The FIU Athletic Department and Riccardo Silva have announced the naming of FIU Stadium, which will now be called "Riccardo Silva Stadium." The decision to name the stadium is in recognition of the support given by Riccardo Silva to the FIU Athletic Department since 2015.
Riccardo Silva is the owner of Silva International Investments and co-owner of Miami FC, which made its debut in the 2016 season of the North American Soccer League (NASL). The Miami FC will play all of its home games at Riccardo Silva Stadium.
"FIU has been an amazing partner since we began working together with Miami FC," said Silva. "When I brought professional soccer to Miami last year, I never dreamed that the Miami FC would be playing in a stadium named after me. It's a huge honor of which I'm very proud and grateful."
"I'm proud of the partnership with Riccardo Silva that speaks to our win-win commitment to our community," said FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg.
As well as a new name for the stadium, Riccardo Silva Stadium has also seen significant improvements made to the facility over the last two months, with completion of two major projects. The first is the installation of a new state-of-the-art playing surface. The new surface, FieldTurf's Revolution 360, features fibers that provide for optimal durability, resilience and feel and is used by many of the country's top venues.
"I want to personally thank Riccardo Silva for his generous gift and his belief in FIU Athletics," said FIU Executive Director of Sports and Entertainment
Pete Garcia. "It means a great deal to the department and illustrates the relationship we have built with Riccardo Silva. These are the type of gifts that help achieve our goal towards building world-class facilities for our student-athletes and our community."
Riccardo Silva Stadium has also been enhanced by the installation of a new video board, replacing the existing scoreboard. Measuring over 1,800 square feet, the new video board will feature a 13HD pixel layout, the premier technology for outdoor applications within the sports industry. It will have full live video and instant-replay capabilities, along with multiple zones of content, including statistics and graphics.
Originally built in 2008, Riccardo Silva Stadium holds 20,000 spectators. Located on 11200 SW 8th Street, the stadium has hosted many events throughout the years, including the 2009 and 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, concerts, non-intercollegiate sporting events and other community activities.
For more information, please visit
www.fiusports.com.
Riccardo Silva Stadium facts
- - Riccardo Silva is the 12th-largest individual donor in FIU History and the largest in FIU Athletic History
- - Built in 2008
- - Holds 20,000 spectators
- - Club Seats: 1,500
- - Suites: 18
- - Turf: FieldTurf Revolution 360 (Installed in March 2017)
- - High-Definition Video Board (Installed in March 2017)
About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and Riccardo Silva Stadium.
About FIU:
Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute. FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
