LaBar Football Practice Fields

The LaBar Practice Complex enters its sixth season of use and is home to the outdoor practice fields of the Fighting Irish football team.

A gift of Rees and Carol LaBar, the practice fields are located directly south of the Guglielmino Athletics Complex (on the former site of Moose Krause Stadium and Cartier Field). The LaBar Practice Complex features three football fields, lights, video towers, a maintenance building to provide storage and is secured with an eight-foot fence. Two of the three practice fields are FieldTurf fields, allowing the Irish to practice year-round without fear of damaging grass fields due to inclement weather and general wear-and-tear. The third field is a natural grass field.

Rees and Carol LaBar together are two of the largest contributors in Notre Dame history to undergraduate scholarships for deserving students.

The LaBar Practice Complex was dedicated on September 6, 2008. The complex is adjacent to the Guglielmino Athletics Complex and comprises a $2.5 million project that is based on the benefaction of John R. “Rees” LaBar, a 1953 Notre Dame graduate, and his wife, Carol, who reside in Cincinnati, Ohio, and in Long Boat Key, Fla. The LaBars have a grandson David (Notre Dame ’08) and granddaughter Lindsay (Notre Dame ’10).

More than 100 students from the Cincinnati area have attended Notre Dame as a result of their long-time financial support.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Oct. 20, 2007, the morning of the Notre Dame-USC football game, to signify the start of the project. The project was completed in time for the Aug. 8 start of Notre Dame’s 2008 fall football camp.