COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: SPORTS COMPLEX

At the northernmost tip of Manhattan—miles away from the Greek and Roman architecture of Columbia’s main campus—sits the Baker Athletic Complex, a 26-acre site that has served as the main athletic facility since 1922. Butting up against the 200-acre Inwood Hill Park, the complex looks out onto the scenic Spuyten Duyvil Creek and the Henry Hudson Bridge connecting Manhattan to the Bronx. Painted on the rock wall on the Bronx side of the water by a group of students in 1952, a giant letter “C” declares the area Columbia’s territory. 

The Complex boasts of world-class facilities including a tennis center with six hard courts covered by a state-of-the-art air dome, and sport-specific surfaces for field hockey, soccer, baseball, and softball. The football, lacrosse, and track teams all share the Lawrence A. Wien stadium, an arena that has undergone numerous renovations since its inception.  Columbia’s crew team has two boathouses: the Class of 1929 Boathouse, completed in 2001, is the newest in the Ivy League, and the Gould-Remmer boathouse, originally constructed in 1930s, which is no longer in use. 

As one of the Ivy League Institutions, Columbia’s Lions compete against Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Harvard, Brown, University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell. Columbia’s mascot, the lion, leads teams and fans alike in cheers and celebration during the many matches, games, meets, and tournaments hosted by Columbia throughout the year at the Baker Athletic Complex.