{"id":35219,"date":"2026-10-07T09:11:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T13:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=35219"},"modified":"2026-10-07T09:11:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T13:11:15","slug":"northern-essex-announces-construction-plans-for-outdoor-athletic-complex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2026\/10\/07\/northern-essex-announces-construction-plans-for-outdoor-athletic-complex\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Essex Announces Construction Plans for Outdoor Athletic Complex"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Haverhill, MA (October 6, 2026) \u2013<\/strong> Northern Essex Community College has announced plans for significant upgrades to its outdoor athletic facilities. Construction is underway on the Haverhill Campus to create a new, modern baseball field, soccer and multi-purpose field, and an eight-lane track. The new facilities will give NECC teams that currently practice and compete at off-campus locations dedicated athletic spaces on campus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNorthern Essex has become a nationally recognized athletics program thanks in large part to the dedication of our coaches, staff, and student athletes. By ensuring they have access to safe, modern, and convenient facilities for practices and games, we\u2019re investing in our students\u2019 continued success on and off the field,\u201d said NECC <strong>President Lane Glenn. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The fields will be constructed on the existing seven acres in the southwest corner of the campus along Kenoza Street. The initial phase of construction includes improving the playing surfaces to artificial turf and reorienting their current locations. The finished complex will include an NCAA regulation field surrounded by the eight-lane track and a baseball field optimized for players and spectators.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese upgrades not only allow our programs to continue to grow, but they provide an opportunity for the college to host regional and even national tournaments,\u201d said NECC Executive Vice President and CFO\/COO <strong>Michael McCarthy, <\/strong>noting the fields will be available for rent to local clubs, organizations, and schools. \u201cWe are creating something that will benefit our communities holistically.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis has been a long time coming; it\u2019s great to see this project coming to fruition. This will likely be the finest on-campus facility at the two-year college level in the Northeast, which will elevate the overall student-athlete experience at the college,\u201d said NECC Athletic Director <strong>Dan <\/strong><strong>Blair.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>McCarthy added that the fields will be financed through a variety of funding sources. The NECC Foundation Inc. is actively fundraising for the completion of the project. For more information, contact <strong><a href=\"mailto: adolanwilson@necc.mass.edu\">Allison M. Dolan-Wilson<\/a>,<\/strong> NECC Vice President of Institutional Advancement and Workforce &amp; Academic Innovation &amp; Executive Director, NECC Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>The project is expected to be completed in early 2027.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_35220\" style=\"width: 1040px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/10\/Field-Rendering-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-35220\" class=\"size-large wp-image-35220\" src=\"http:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/10\/Field-Rendering-1030x580.jpg\" alt=\"rendering of the new athletic field complex with bright blue track on the foreground and the baseball field behind it to the left\" width=\"1030\" height=\"580\" srcset=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/10\/Field-Rendering-1030x580.jpg 1030w, https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/10\/Field-Rendering-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/10\/Field-Rendering-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/10\/Field-Rendering-1536x865.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/10\/Field-Rendering-2048x1153.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/10\/Field-Rendering-462x260.jpg 462w, https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/10\/Field-Rendering-1500x844.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/10\/Field-Rendering-705x397.jpg 705w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1030px) 100vw, 1030px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-35220\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rendering of completed complex<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Haverhill, MA (October 6, 2026) \u2013 Northern Essex Community College has announced plans for significant upgrades to its outdoor athletic facilities. Construction is underway on the Haverhill Campus to create [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":35220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[756,14,758,16],"tags":[75,84,360,550,743],"class_list":["post-35219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","category-featured","category-headline","category-press-releases","tag-athletics","tag-baseball","tag-knights","tag-soccer","tag-track"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Northern Essex Announces Construction Plans for Outdoor Athletic Complex - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Construction is underway on the Haverhill Campus to create a new, modern baseball field, soccer and multi-purpose field, and an eight-lane track.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2026\/10\/07\/northern-essex-announces-construction-plans-for-outdoor-athletic-complex\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Northern Essex Announces Construction Plans for Outdoor Athletic Complex - 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