In its 40 years of existence, Carter Finley Stadium has earned a reputation as one of the most exciting venues in college football, mainly due to the dedication of Wolfpack fans. Now, the facility has been renovated to match the excellence of the people who fill it and is rapidly becoming known as one of the finest football venues in the nation for both its atmosphere and its facilities.
In the past six years, the entire face of the stadium has changed dramatically. The south endzone is now the home of the 103,254 square-foot Murphy Center, which is unequalled in its design for the training and preparation of athletes. The student-athletes’ academic, physical training and sports medicine needs are met under one roof, providing the ideal setting for coaching, recruiting and celebrating NC State’s gridiron heritage.
The Centennial Authority took the action about an hour before Raleigh officials formally announced that the Whalers were relocating to Raleigh.
The lease agreement calls for the team to contribute $12 million to the arena's cost. The arena would open in 1999, with construction set to begin in about three weeks.
The Wolfpack squad practices just a stone’s throw away at the Dail Practice Complex. This area covers seven acres and boasts three full fields, a training room, restrooms and a tower where the head coach is frequently found surveying his squad.
In front of the Murphy Center, the south endzone now boasts 5,864 permanent seats, with the top 11 rows featuring 1,900 premium seats with chairbacks. The “Superscreen” scoreboard enhances the Carter Finley atmosphere, as fans are able to enjoy replays, highlights and other videos on the scoreboard’s 24’ x 32’ video screen. A state-of-the-art sound system ensures that even the folks on the last row get the most out of their game-day experience.
In 2005, Vaughn Towers opens for fans and the media. Located on the west side, the four-level facility boasts 117,000 square feet and holds 51 luxury suites, 955 club seats and luxurious quarters for the media covering NC State games.
For 2006, the north endzone was completely enclosed, with new lockerrooms, suites and seating.
Wayne Day Family Field
The playing field at Carter Finley Stadium was named Wayne Day Family Field in the spring of 2003 after the Day family pledged $5 million to the Wolfpack Club Goal Line Drive Campaign. The Day family’s pledge is one of the largest gifts to the athletics program in the history of NC State University.
Day, president and CEO of John J. Kirlin, Inc, is a 1965 graduate of NC State University. A native of Roxboro, Day graduated from NC State with a degree in Chemical Engineering. Before joining John J. Kirlin Inc. in 1969, he spent two years with the US Army Corps of Engineers, followed by two years at Honeywell. Day is a member of the World Presidents Association and the Washington Building Congress. He is actively involved in the rebuilding of the Pentagon, following the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001.
Day and his wife Mary Grace have two children and one grandson.
Vaughan Towers
Visitors to Carter Finley Stadium this season will be able to see the soaring new press box rising above the west stands. The 117,000 square-foot structure, which streches from endzone to endzone, includes four levels, 51 private luxury suites and 955 club seats, as well as a University Suite for the Chancellor. The state-of-the-art facility also includes accomodations for the media, and will house 112 press seats.
The construction also includes new concession stands and restroom facilities on the outer west concourse.
The stadium honors Wilbert James (Nick) Carter (1902-1972) , Harry Clifton Carter (1908-1990), and Albert Earle Finley (1895-1985). The two Carter brothers graduated from NC State from the school of Textiles and became top executives in the J. P. Stevens Company. They contributed several hundred thousand dollars to fundraising for completion of the stadium. In 1937, the Carter brothers formed their own company, Carter Fabrics of Greensboro, and merged with the J.P. Stevens Corporation. The family was particularly involved with support of the NC State school of textiles. NC State awarded an honorary Doctor of Textile Science degree to Nick Carter in 1943.
Finley was also a strong supporter of the athletics program at NC State. After two years of business school in Virginia, he became a stenographer for the Baltimore, Chesapeake, and Atlantic Railroad Company, rapidly working his way to a position of secretary to the general manager. Finley, a former US Army 2nd Lieutenant, soon became involved in the sale of heavy construction equipment and eventually started his own business, the Raleigh Tractor and Equipment Company. Finley kept an active interest in supporting the college, and even donated a motel on Western Boulevard to the Wolfpack Club as an athletics dormitory.
Carter Finley Stadium was originally designed by architect Charles Kahn, a distinguished professor in the NC State School of Design from 1959-1968.Ê Kahn received his B.A. from North Carolina in 1946, his Bachelors of Civil Engineering from North Carolina State in 1948, his M.S. in Structures from M.I.T. in 1949, and his Bachelors in Architecture from North Carolina State in 1956.Ê Kahn was recruited by the University of Kansas in 1968 to become the first Dean of their School of Architecture and Urban Design.Ê After closing out his tenure in academia in 1991, he has returned home to the triangle and consults on architectural design and structural engineering projects.
At the cross-roads of Wade Avenue and Trinity Road, Carter Finley Stadium is one of the most scenic settings for collegiate football anywhere in America.
The massive two-level stadium has seating for 44,000 spectators, but a grassy bank at the south end of the field can accommodate up to 6,000 vocal fans, increasing the seating capacity to 50,000.
A future expansion plan of $19 million towards improvements to Carter Finley as well as the erection of the $66 million Entertainment and Sports Arena will place NC State Athletics among the country's athletic and academic elite.
$40 million will be used to build a new 5 story building that will sit atop the existing "Hill" on the south side that will house the football operations. The remaining amount will be used to build 28 new skyboxes and a press box on top of the west side and enclose the north side with 22 additional skyboxes.
