Every winter, after the last football game of the season, a “bubble” is erected over Powers Field at Princeton Stadium. Bubbles are used for collegiate, club, and intramural sports to allow more use of the field during the winter months. As spring approaches and the bubble days are numbered, The Daily Princetonian takes a look at the history of the bubble, which teams are using it, and how it will affect play through the winter. We considered whether
The beginning of the bubble dates back to April 2017. At that time, he received a $3.5 million gift from an anonymous donor to pay for a “climate-controlled seasonal air structure” that would allow the university to use the football field year-round.
Each fall, football teams typically play five home games. These are all representative athletics events held at stadiums. Home games for the 2023 season drew 1,791 to 8,345 attendees. Princeton Stadium has a capacity of 27,773 people, so even for home games with the largest crowds, the field is only about 30% full. The introduction of the bubble will allow for a significant increase in the use of the field beyond these sparsely utilized home games.
Michael Huggins, assistant director of athletic facilities and operations, said the field's design and removable turf sections will allow the installation of the bubble to have minimal impact on the playing surface.
You can remove the turf and install the bubble cable.
Andrew Bosworth/Daily Princetonian
The bubble allows for additional practice on the grass in a warm environment during the winter months, helping your team succeed in the colder months.
In 2018, men's lacrosse head coach Matt Madalon described Bubbles as an “outstanding resource” for Prince and credited Bubbles for his early season success.
“Maybe some of our colleagues are outside in the sleeting rain, but we're going to go inside and teach and have some really productive practice and maybe give you a little bit of a boost. We have facilities that allow us to stay healthy,” Madalon told “The Prince”, praising the six-year-old bubble for adding to his opinion.
Club Frisbee member Oren Swagel ’26 said, “It was really nice to be able to hold the bubble late on a cold night.” “It's certainly nice not having to be out so late in the cold. But you know when we play in tournaments, we're not playing in a bubble. A bubble is a place where the wind blows. I mean, it's not cold. I mean, it's kind of an artificial condition that we don't play in, but it helps a lot in the middle of winter.”
Varsity, club and intramural teams will compete and practice within the bubble throughout the winter and spring until the bubble is dismantled. Fields can be further subdivided for use by multiple teams or groups.
“Field utilization is always an issue here,” Madalon said. “There are a lot of varsity sports and club sports, but we are the only one in this facility for varsity practices.”
In the 2022 bubble, there were 311 club sports reservations, but in 2024, club sports teams only reserved 75 slots. In 2022 and 2023, the total number of reservations, including club teams, national teams and camps, was approximately 1,000. In 2024, only 791 reservations were made throughout the winter.
All 39 club sports receive practice requests at the beginning of each semester. Campus Recreation is working to equitably allocate time and space.
“With more of the varsity space available, we strive to create a fair balance with athletics so that club teams can join the athletic fields for practice,” said Campus Recreation and Programming Assistant director Lo Ramirez wrote in an email to Prince. “Typically, outdoor national team practices take place between 4pm and 7pm, and sports clubs can request the same space from 7pm to 11pm.”
This year, Campus Recreation responded to requests to practice in bubbles from four club sports: men's ultimate Frisbee, men's and women's soccer, and flag football.
“The only hope we are willing to satisfy is requesting the fields, times, and days of the week that teams have traditionally practiced in the past semester/year,” Ramirez wrote. “Aside from that, we are still working on developing a schedule for our teams during the competitive season, but we continue to see great growth in our program with teams currently looking to compete throughout the academic year.”
However, the bubble's usefulness may be limited to some teams. After numerous winter practices in the bubble in 2023, Club Frisbee reduced its bubble bookings for this season, believing the bubble would provide an unrealistic playing environment for winter games.
“I realized that a bubble is an artificial condition that you're not really going to play in. If you're going to play a tournament and it's 30 degrees and it's windy, how are you going to play in that?” I have to know,” Swagel said. .
Still, during a rainy practice, Club Frisbee decided to venture into the bubble, until they were kicked out by the team that had booked the bubble.
“We popped in and someone came and said, 'Hey, this is booked,'” Swagel said. “Of course it left, but it was there so I took advantage of it a little bit.”
The men's club rugby team practices in a bubble about five times a year. However, the football field covered by the bubble is at least 10 meters smaller than a rugby field. On March 23, the team was scheduled to play Temple University at Finney Field and Campbell Field. The team, which was preparing for the match in the rain, was notified of the change of venue.
“For some reason, a spot opened up and 10 minutes before the game started they were like, ‘Okay, you guys are going to play in the bubble.’ It was a great experience because we were soaking wet outside,” said the sophomore scrum. Half-Azhar Razin told the “Prince”: “It was nice that the bubble gave us warmth and protection from the rain.”
In a last-minute move to the bubble, only one goal post was installed, so only one team could kick a penalty point in each half. The teams switched scoring directions after half the game. The Tigers won 62-12.
For the past three years, the bubble has started to decline around April 10th. Installation and teardown will each take about a week to complete and will be completed in time for the commencement ceremony at Princeton Stadium and Saturday night's orchestral concert and fireworks show at Reunion. Huggins estimates that the funding for the bubble will last him 15 to 20 years.
Andrew Bosworth is the Prince's data editor and sports contributor.
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