Ithaca College to use donation to add artificial turf, lights at Butterfield Stadium

ITHACA, N.Y. — Ithaca College will use a $3 million donation to pay for the installation of artificial turf and lighting at its Butterfield Stadium.

Monica Bertino Wooden, a 1981 graduate of Ithaca College, provided the money. To recognize the gift, the school will name the playing surface Bertino Field at Butterfield Stadium.

Ithaca College also sees the project as one that will “will greatly expand the uses of the premier outdoor gathering space on campus,” per its Tuesday announcement.

Bertino Wooden played softball and basketball as a student-athlete, earning her bachelor’s degree in physical education. Her brother, John Bertino, who graduated from Ithaca College in 1980, played on both the 1979 football and 1980 baseball teams that won national championships, the college said.

A longtime resident of Tampa, Florida, Bertino Wooden spent the early part of her professional career with IBM. In 2000 she co-founded MercuryGate International, which focused on the field of supply-chain logistics that provides transportation-management products, serving as its CEO until selling the company in 2018.

“As an athlete and later as a youth coach, I found that one need was always constant —field time! So, I am very pleased to give back to the college that invested so much in me,” she said.

Butterfield Stadium is currently used primarily for home football games, meaning that for most of the year, “it sits idle.” With synthetic turf and lighting, the stadium will be available “multiple times a day, seven days a week, in all seasons,” the school said.

“We are so grateful for this show of support for our student-athletes and our entire campus community,” Ithaca College President La Jerne Terry Cornish said. “I am looking forward to cheering on our teams and watching other activities take place on Bertino Field at Butterfield Stadium for many years to come.”

The project is planned to begin in the spring of 2023, with completion prior to the start of the fall semester and first home football game in the fall.

Ithaca College expects the project will result in “positive environmental and economic benefits as well.”

Synthetic turf fields conserve water since irrigation is not needed, and the stormwater runoff is cleaner since it will not include the fertilizers and pesticides required for natural-grass fields, the school noted.

The planned Musco LED (light-emitting diode) sports-lighting system cuts energy consumption by as much as 80 percent compared to a traditional sports-light system and “virtually eliminates glare, sky glow, and light spill.”

“We will both save on maintenance costs and create revenue-generating opportunities, with a stadium that can host a variety of large-scale outdoor events when not being used by the college community,” Tim Downs, VP for finance and administration at Ithaca College, said. “This aligns with our strategic plan goals of improving space utilization, optimizing resources, and developing community partnerships.”