SHI Stadium has served as the home field of Rutgers University football since it opened on September 3, 1994, when the Scarlet Knights defeated Kent State in the venue’s first game. Located on Rutgers’ Busch Campus in Piscataway, New Jersey, overlooking the Raritan River, the stadium has carried several corporate names over the decades before IT firm SHI International Corp. secured the naming rights in 2019.
A $102 million expansion completed in 2009 added roughly 11,500 seats to the south end zone, pushing capacity from the original 41,500 to 52,454 and adding the Brown Football Recruiting Pavilion. The stadium’s record crowd of 55,942 turned out on September 19, 2025, for a Big Ten matchup against Iowa, and beyond football it has also hosted Rutgers’ lacrosse teams and university commencement ceremonies.
Stats at a Glance
- Team(s): Rutgers Scarlet Knights football, men’s and women’s lacrosse
- Location: Piscataway, New Jersey
- Opened: September 3, 1994
- Capacity: 52,454 (expanded from 41,500 in 2009)
- Surface: FieldTurf (natural grass until 2003)
- Record Attendance: 55,942 (Sept. 19, 2025, vs. Iowa)
From Rutgers Stadium to SHI Stadium
The venue opened simply as Rutgers Stadium and kept that name for its first seventeen seasons. Naming-rights deals then brought three different corporate titles between 2011 and 2019 — High Point Solutions Stadium, HighPoint.com Stadium, and finally SHI Stadium — after the current partnership with Somerset, New Jersey-based SHI International Corp. was signed in July 2019.
Game Day at Rutgers
Beyond football, SHI Stadium has been shared by Rutgers’ men’s and women’s lacrosse programs since 2014 and has hosted NCAA tournament soccer and lacrosse games. The playing surface switched from natural grass to FieldTurf in 2004, and the stadium sits on the same Piscataway site that once held the original 1938 Rutgers Stadium before it was replaced.
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SHI Stadium FAQs
When did SHI Stadium open?
It opened on September 3, 1994, as Rutgers Stadium, with the Scarlet Knights beating Kent State in the first game played there.
What is the capacity of SHI Stadium?
SHI Stadium holds 52,454 fans, up from its original 41,500-seat capacity before a 2008-2009 expansion project.
Why is it called SHI Stadium?
The venue has carried the SHI Stadium name since 2019, when Rutgers signed a naming-rights agreement with SHI International Corp., a Somerset, New Jersey-based IT company.
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Photo: Gary Miotla / CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.