SHI Stadium in Piscataway, NJ

Basic Information

Stadium: SHI Stadium

Location: Piscataway, NJ (40.51361, -74.46527)

Owner: Rutgers University

Primary sport: football

Year constructed: 1994, but the current stadium is a rebuild from a previous football stadium built on this site in 1938

Listed capacity: 52,454

Date last visited: September 2025

Stadium information: https://scarletknights.com/facilities/shi-stadium/2

Summary Review: 3 stars (out of 5)

Rutgers University is known as the Birthplace of College Football because the first college football game was played on its campus on November 6, 1869.  Rutgers defeated Princeton 6-4 that day (points were scored different back then), but most of the rest of college football history has been less kind to the Scarlet Knights.  Unfortunately, history has not been kind to its stadium either: SHI Stadium is one of the smallest and least distinguished stadiums in major college football.  The first college football game actually took place at a field across the Raritan River, so there is no distinguished history associated with the current stadium's site.  The stands at SHI Stadium have a very steep grade, one of the steepest I have ever seen.  I sat in the upper deck and felt like I was watching the game from the press box.  Then I realized the press box was actually directly underneath me, so I was more or less watching the game from the blimp!  My aging back enjoyed the bench back seats.  The stadium has nice concourses and ramps, and the concession options are above average.  Truth be told, I actually had a pretty good time watching a game here, but this stadium pales in comparison to most of its Big Ten brethren.  Thus, while this stadium isn't as bad as this review may make it sound, the overall ranking can't go too high.

Detailed Review:

Gameday Atmosphere: Rutgers has possibly the smallest fan base in the Big 10 (rivaled only by Northwestern and maybe Minnesota or Maryland).  Thus, the gameday atmosphere is rather flat in spite of a "gameday carnival" outside the north end of the stadium, an ample student section, and an energetic marching band.  The stadium actually holds noise rather well, but there aren't many fans to make any noise to hold.

Seating: mostly bench and bench backs; a few chairbacks in the high dollar sections.

Field View: the stands have one of the steepest grades I have ever seen: the stairs have 3 steps per row rather than the usual 2.  I sat in the 3rd row of the upper deck.  I thought it was like watching the game from the press box, but then I realized the press box was directly below me.  Thus, it was more like watching the game from the blimp: every pass and kick was waaaay below me.  If you can tolerate looking down on the action (literally), then the field view is fine.

Audio/Video: large clear video board and nice ribbon boards.  The music was loud, but the PA had medium volume.

Concessions/Hot Dogs: The hot dogs are large but not particularly tasty.  They have plenty of concession options including a Pizza Hut in the south end of the stadium.

Pedestrian Flow: SHI Stadium has wide concourses and nice ramps, so the pedestrian flow is quite smooth.

Parking: Rutgers tries to use all of the parking on campus as gameday parking like other major football schools do, but they don't have enough fans to fill all of the on-campus spaces.  The lot I parked in can probably accommodate 1000 cars; roughly 50 cars were parked there.  All parking is paid, and there is plenty of it available due to the small fan base.