📍 Fairfield, Connecticut
🏀 Home of Fairfield Stags basketball

Opened in the fall of 2022, Leo D. Mahoney Arena sits on the former site of Alumni Hall, the home of the Fairfield Stags for over 60 years. Demolished in 2021 to make way for its modern replacement, the aging gym could hold about a thousand fans less than Mahoney Arena, which seats 3,500. Prior to the opening of this new on-campus gem, the Stags had also played at Total Mortgage Arena in nearby Bridgeport on and off since the turn of the century.

Basketball at Fairfield was introduced back in 1948, beginning play in the NAIA and eventually enjoying varied success in Division II. For three straight years in the early 1960s, the Stags participated in the NCAA DII Tournament, advancing as far as the Sweet Sixteen. In 1964, the school moved up to DI, but it was some years before the team really excelled at this highly competitive level. The Stags won the MAAC Conference Tournament in 1986, 1987 and 1997, sending Fairfield dancing in each of those years. The team has appeared in the NIT on numerous occasions as well.

What’s in a name?

When basketball first came to Fairfield University in the 1940s, the school’s few athletic teams lacked a proper nickname. Students pitched two ideas to the Board of Trustees and the name “Stags” was ultimately selected. Also called “harts”, stags are essentially male red deer, a non-native species to North America. Since Fairfield was then a part of the Diocese of Hartford, the Stags moniker was formed by dissecting the name of Connecticut’s capital city.

The Stags made many memories in old Alumni Hall, a cozy little barn that helped bring the program to where it is today. To ensure that those Alumni days will never be forgotten, elements from their former home are incorporated into the design of Mahoney Arena. Although the court itself was rotated 90 degrees from its former position, the iconic arched ceiling has been carried over and some of the arena graphics are also reminiscent of the architecture of Alumni Hall.

Legends from every Fairfield athletic program are represented on the main concourse, being showcased in the school’s humble Hall of Fame. Amongst all of the sports sponsored by the university, volleyball is perhaps the most successful, winning multiple conference tournaments and appearing in the NCAA postseason tournament on more than a dozen occasions.

Mahoney Arena also features some fantastic futuristic-looking decor, such as a multi-faceted cube of screens on the concourse which displays a rotating assortment of Stags graphics. The arena’s club area, called The Diffley, boasts unique lighting and a slick walk-up bar as well. Named after George Diffley – Vice President of University Advancement for more than 30 years – this special access area has some stupendous overhead views.

The entire upper deck, in fact, seems to hang right over the court and puts fans extremely close to the game. The sightlines overall here are just perfect, with clear views of the action from nearly every nook and cranny of Mahoney. Standing room areas behind the upper level seats and drink rail seats on the main concourse allow for even more unconventional viewing.

But no matter where you choose to be in this state-of-the-art venue, you’ll definitely have an incredible time taking part in this new era of Stags basketball, which will be sure to rock Leo D. Mahoney Arena well into the future.