Barron Stadium is a 6,500-seat football field and track & field stadium in Rome, Georgia. It is home to the Shorter University Hawks and Rome High School Wolves football teams. The facility hosted the NAIA Football National Championship from 2008-13 and the NCCAA Victory Bowl in 2013-14, as well as the NCCAA track championships from 2014-16.Barron Stadium is owned by the Rome-Floyd Parks and Recreation Authority (RFPRA), a city-county partnership, and has been operated by the Rome City School District since 2015. For usage, it cost Shorter University $7,500 in 2012 to host its home football games as part of a three-year, $321,000 contract that included football, track & field, other sports, events, and the school's commencement exercises. Rome High School paid $5,000 per game for its home football games at that time. The RFPRA provides staffing for athletic events and pays for facility maintenance.HistoryThe athletic field is over 100 years old, originally known as Hamilton Field. Dating to 1924, the stadium was renamed Barron Stadium in 1925 for local businessman William F. Barron, who helped acquire the property. (Barron's father founded the Rome Coca-Cola bottling plant in 1901.) Lights were installed by 1937, and the school district turned over operation of the facility to the city recreation department in 1957. Renovations occurred in 1967 and 2008, and a new press box was built in 2001. In 2010, Barron received $3.4 million in upgrades, paid for by a local option sales tax, that included a new artificial turf field, an NCAA-certified track, and a new scoreboard, plus expanded locker room, press and seating facilities.
