Penn Eyes IAAF Diamond League Meet for New Franklin Field Track

Published by Philly.com on October 8, 2015

The $3 million renovation to Franklin Field’s track that Penn officially unveiled on Thursday is more than just cosmetic. It includes a few subtle but substantive changes that have opened up the possibility of bringing more national and international track meets to 33rd Street beyond the annual Penn Relays carnival.

The biggest is the addition of a sixth lane with a standard-size stagger within the nine-lane layout.

For years, Franklin Field’s stature in the track world has been defined by two key traits: the huge crowds that flock to the Relays and the bigger-than-standard stagger of the inside lanes’ turns. That stagger is required to ensure that all runners cover the same distance as they race.

The quirk of Franklin Field’s stagger dates to 1951, when Penn first expanded the track to nine lanes. Because of the brick wall that separates the track from the stands, the university built the new lanes inside the old ones instead of outside them.