Football Stadium Review: Taylor Field (Lakeland University)

 Taylor Field at Lakeland University, which is somehow with a Plymouth, Wisconsin address (more on that later) is the scene for the next stadium review.  This is a D3 school from the NACC conference who hosted Concordia-Chicago on this day that I am reviewing.  The Muskies were already out of playoff and conference contention, so this was merely for pride and good vibes for the rest of the year.  They did their job on this day, winning by 31. What did I think of Taylor Field, let's find out below!

Amenities:

A really clean stadium all around, with a food truck, a different food and drink stand, a set of tables for you to sit and eat and watch the game, also fairly clean bathrooms.  The one downside is that while they have a gift shop for merch, it's closed at halftime.  Why? No idea. Major bust there that they couldn't leave it open all day. Otherwise, 4 out of 5.

Atmosphere:

That whole being out of playoff and conference contention really, really hurt Lakeland here.  With that, even with the win, there was almost next to no energy from the crowd, outside of one fan who was raring to fight with the other teams' head coach following a late hit. He later settled down away from the people that were on the bleachers.  Can't do much otherwise though, and unfortunately for Lakeland they didn't have much excitement even in this win.  Sorry friends, you are getting a .5 out of 5.

Location:

Remember me saying that this is somehow with a Plymouth, Wisconsin address? That's because this stadium and university are like 10 miles from Plymouth.  It's LITERALLY in the middle of nowhere. Yes this is an on-campus stadium but that's literally it's only saving grace. Otherwise I cannot really give this more than 1.5 even on location.  It's just one of the more odd stadium locations and one of the more odd college locations ever.

Price/Quality:

Parking being free is always a plus, and the ticket I believe was around 8 dollars so pretty inexpensive as well.  The Food was average, the drinks were Pepsi brand so no problem there.  The food truck was too expensive for my liking (I learned my lesson from Ripon). All in all, 4 out of 5.

Review:

Taylor Field is a nice, clean facility, but it's in the middle of nowhere and when your team isn't very good, the atmosphere is pretty much non-existent.  I did give this a 10 and to be honest, it's a bit more friendly than I thought I would give. The saving grace is it is a clean stadium a relatively cheap day at the ground.  It was, unfortunately, the worst stadium I went to in 2025.

Football Stadium Review: Raabe Stadium (Wisconsin Lutheran College)

 On the same day I visited Tomasini Stadium, I also took the trip southwest of there to Raabe Stadium, home of the Wisconsin Lutheran Warriors.  After the hype of seeing one of the best games I have seen, I had to obviously temper my expectations for the upcoming matchup against, ironically, St. Norbert. This time, the Green Knights came out in front of the Warriors, avenging their loss the previous week to Concordia. This day-night double header was just.. it's football man. And how could just not love football? My marriage with football aside, let's review Raabe Stadium shall we?

Amenities:

A very clean stadium, a nice stadium as well. One main food stand through the stadium, but they also had a food truck.  Note I will mention that later in the review.  The road around the stadium also had a My24 truck, as they carried the games on their network for Warriors home games, which is honestly really neat.  The bathrooms are super clean, and the staff deserve a lot of credit for the stands also being clean and tidy. Overall, 5 out of 5.

Atmosphere:

I did this to St. Norbert, so unfortunately I have to give this to WLC as well. Listen, Milwaukee/Chicago in the MLB playoffs did WLC no justice due to them being on at the same time. Fortunately for Concordia on this day, all of it happened before the playoff game. On this day for WLC, the night game didn't do them a favor with the playoff game as well.  So the crowd was already limited in numbers (less than 400 came to the game) so they were transfixed on the playoffs.  However, most of the game, WLC did the crowd no major favors either as they only scored seven points until deep into the fourth quarter and made the game 17-14, which was the ultimate final score that they lost by.  Sorry WLC, I have to do it. 1 out of 5.

Location: 

Raabe Stadium is off of the interstate and pretty easy to get back on it. However, it's also a couple miles from campus.  I understand it is difficult to get an on-campus stadium in the Milwaukee suburbs and a lot of the athletic facilities are actually away from campus, but this does drive the number down. With it also being the Milwaukee suburbs, food and drink places and really anything isn't too far away either. We'll go down the middle on this with a 2.5 out of 5.

Price/Quality:

Okay, free parking is a plus and the ticket was fairly cheap which is another plus.  However, the pizza was pre-ordered from a pizza place and warmed up/kept warm. The drink choices were fine.  The food truck grabbed most of the attention but I didn't buy anything from there as it was too expensive for my liking.  Overall, lack of main grandstand choices puts this at a 2.5 out of 5.

Review: 

Raabe Stadium is a nice stadium, but definitely has its flaws.  The food being the main one.  They cannot do much with the location unless WLC gets a stadium that is on campus or at least significantly closer to it. I also cannot fault them when most of the populace was more focused on the Brewers over them, so this would likely be up for a revision in 2027 or 2028 like St. Norbert. For now though, 11 is the score I will give.

Football Stadium Review: Tomasini Stadium (Concordia University-Wisconsin)

 On the shores of Lake Michigan, our second stadium to have the lakefront view and this one is home to the Concordia-Wisconsin Falcons.  If you remember my most recent post, they took on St. Norbert and won that game.  However, we got to go to them in his now near middle of October matchup against Lakeland, which is the Cheese Bowl rivalry.  It was also homecoming for the Falcons, and this was evident right from the kickoff what this meant to the crowd.  How did the game fare? Well an instant classic in D3, a 41-34 OT winner for Concordia, who kept their dream season going (they would win the conference and get to the NCAA playoffs fyi).  Ironically this was the second time I had seen the stadium, as I went to Kapco Park, home of the Lakeshore Chinooks years earlier. This time, I went for a game and felt like rating it sooooo here we go!

Amenities: 

There is one main food stand, where they actually don't premake the food and wrap it up.  They had the grills going for this one, and they needed it.  There were plenty of options of food and drinks.  Overall the area seemed pretty clean, if not a bit crowded (again, it's Homecoming so I suspect this was going to be the case). The unusual thing about Tomasini Stadium is there is a parking garage behind the main press/coaches box.  My suspect guess is it is for parking near some of the halls that are near the stadium for classes and for the basketball arena nearby as well as football/baseball.  Overall, 4 out of 5 works well here.

Atmosphere:

The crowd was buzzing at the start of this one, as it was homecoming, a rivalry game and it was an over capacity crowd of over 2,000 for this game.  However, by early in the third, that over capacity crowd was stymied by a 28-7 Lakeland lead. However, the tides turned and early in the fourth the crowd was rocking again when it was 28-27.  Even after a touchdown by Lakeland, CUW came back late in the fourth to tie the game to send it to overtime.  It was a monstrous buzz of a crowd who thought hope was lost.  An OT touchdown made it more noisy but only after the game was sewn up by a Lakeland turnover did the crowd fully celebrate. Yes, homecoming does make this go up. 5 out of 5 atmosphere.

Location:

Smack dab on campus, on the shores of Lake Michigan, with a terrific view of said lake.  This isn't going to be rated lower than a 5. You literally just cannot give it lower. So obviously, it's a 5.

Price/Quality:

Free parking, massive plus. Ticket was less than 10 bucks, another massive plus. Food quality though, eh could be better but could be worse. Will rate it higher since I saw them making that food rather than it being pre-made and wrapped up. Drinks are reasonably priced and heck I got a popcorn for all the drama that is football because HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE FOOTBALL MAN? 4 out of 5.

Review:

Tomasini Stadium, like it's neighbor Kapco Field, is a wonderful stadium.  That 18 goes a long way friends. Don't think you can't get it higher. Just a couple of tweaks to your amenities and food quality and you may nail the perfect score. Overall, a sensational stadium and one that the Falcons can take great pride in.