NCAA Football NEWS
College Football’s Best Stadiums – Part 2
Published by MoonDog on July 31, 2008
Last week I began a four-part series on some of college football’s best stadiums. I began with the stadiums along the east coast and highlighted Beaver Stadium, home of the Penn State Nittany Lions, Doak-Campbell Stadium, home of the Florida State Seminoles, Memorial Stadium, home of the Clemson Tigers, Williams-Brice Stadium, home of the South Carolina Gamecocks and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, home of the Florida Gators.
This week we move to the Midwest where more of the best stadiums in college football are located. I’m really enjoy reading the histories of these great stadiums and I’m hopeful you’re enjoying it too.
Next week we’ll move the southeast, but for now, let’s take a look at these great college football stadiums in the heart of America.
Ohio Stadium – Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio Stadium, commonly known as “The Horseshoe,” is the home of the Ohio State Buckeyes and is one of the most recognizable stadiums in college football. In 1918 Ohio State University commissioned Howard D. Smith to design the future home of the Buckeyes.
Smith designed a double decked stadium in the form of a horseshoe and after funds were raised to build the new facility, construction began in August 1921 at a cost of $1.3 million.
The Buckeyes played their first game at Ohio Stadium on October 7, 1922 in front of a packed house of 66,210, the original capacity when the stadium opened. With the Buckeyes rise to prominence, additional seats were needed to satisfy the growing list of fans wishing to attend the games.
In 1984 a new scoreboard was added and in 1991, 5,000 seats were added in the south end zone. The latest renovations and expansions came between 1998 and 2001. Included among the improvements were a new scoreboard, 76 luxury suites and 2,500 club seats. Prior to the start of the 2007 season, the playing field was switched from grass to Fieldturf.
Ohio Stadium is the fourth largest in college football with a capacity of 101,568. There’s never an empty seat when the Buckeyes take the field and Ohio Stadium is truly one of the best atmosphere’s in all of sports.
Michigan Stadium – Michigan Wolverines
Michigan Stadium, also known as “The Big House,” is currently the largest college football stadium in America. Fielding Yost, head coach of the Wolverines, designed the new stadium and the University of Michigan approved construction in April 1926 at a cost of $950,000.
Michigan Stadium was modeled after the Yale Bowl and when completed, seated nearly 72,000 fans. Yost designed the stadium so it could be expanded to seat up to 200,000 fans one day. Prior to its opening in 1927, Yost lobbied the university to add an additional 10,000 seats to the stadium. The university approved and the stadium was completed in October 1927.
The Michigan Wolverines played their inaugural first game at Michigan Stadium on October 1, 1927. The official capacity of Michigan Stadium when it opened was 84,401 and was easily the largest stadium in the nation.
The popularity of the Wolverines program increased the need for greater capacity and the following season an additional 1,352 seats were added. Michigan Stadium was expanded prior to the start of the 1949 season when capacity was increased to 97,239. In 1956, a new press box was constructed that increased the seating capacity to 101,001.
Michigan Stadium has undergone numerous renovations during the past 50 years, most notably in 1998 when 5,000 seats were added to raise capacity to 107,501. The largest crowd to witness a college football game took place in Michigan Stadium on November 20, 1999 when 111, 238 were in attendance to watch Michigan take on Michigan State.
In May 2006 the decision was made to renovate Michigan Stadium yet again. This $226 million project will be completed by the 2010 season and will include the addition of 83 suites, 3,200 club seats and increasing the seating capacity to 108,000. During the 2008 and 2009 seasons, Michigan Stadium will have the second largest capacity in the nation behind Penn State’s Beaver Stadium.
Camp Randall Stadium – Wisconsin Badgers
Camp Randall Stadium, home of the Wisconsin Badgers, is the oldest stadium in the Big Ten Conference. Located at the original site it was built on in 1913, Camp Randall Stadium was initially a wooden structure. However, in 1915, the stadium collapsed and a new stadium was constructed.
The new Camp Randall was completed in 1917 and the Badgers played their first game on November 3 against Minnesota. Camp Randall was named after an army base during the Civil War and university officials considered it the best location to build a stadium.
Camp Randall has been expanded many times, beginning in 1951 when capacity increased to nearly 51,000. A three level press box and second deck on the west side was completed by the 1966 season increasing the capacity to 77,745.
Prior to the start of the 2005 season, Camp Randall Stadium underwent major renovations that included the addition of 1,000 club seats, 72 luxury suites and removing the Astroturf playing field, replacing it with Fieldturf.
Camp Randall Stadium has a seating capacity of 80,321, making it the fourth largest stadium in the Big 10.
Notre Dame Stadium – Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame Stadium is one of the most famous stadiums in the nation and is the home of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Golden dome, touchdown Jesus and the luck of the Irish are all part of the mystique that is Notre Dame football.
The driving force behind the construction of Notre Dame Stadium was legendary coach Knute Rockne. By the late 1920s plans were drawn up for a new stadium at Notre Dame and construction began in 1929. Patterned after Michigan Stadium, Notre Dame Stadium was completed in late September of 1930 at a cost of $750,000.
The Fighting Irish played their first game at the newly constructed stadium on October 4, 1930 against SMU with a capacity crowd of 54,000 in attendance. Considering how successful the Fighting Irish have been for a half-century, Notre Dame Stadium has undergone only one major renovation in its 78-year history.
Prior to the 1997 season, the stadium was expanded to its current capacity of 80,795. Nearly 21,000 seats were added along the top rim around the stadium. In addition, the first three rows of seats were eliminated, a new grass field was installed, new scoreboards were placed above the rim of the stadium in the north and south end zones and a new three tier press box was built.
Notre Dame Stadium remains one of the most unique stadiums in college football with its brick exterior and setting.
Memorial Stadium – Nebraska Cornhuskers
Home of the Nebraska Cornhuskers for more than eight decades, Memorial Stadium was named in honor of the citizens of Nebraska who fought in the Civil War, Spanish-American War, and World Wars I & II.
Construction began in early 1923 and was completed by mid-October that same year at a cost of $430,000. Nebraska played their inaugural game at Memorial Stadium on October 20, 1923 against Kansas.
The first expansion of Memorial Stadium was prior to the 1964 season when stands were constructed in the south end zone giving the stadium its horseshoe configuration. Over the next two years, additional stands were built on the north side of Memorial Stadium giving it a capacity of 65,000.
In 1972 the stands in the south end zone were expanded increasing the capacity by 9,000 to 73,650. In 1998, a $36 million renovation included the construction of the Don Bryant press box that includes 42 luxury suites, and 1,500 club seats. The latest expansion was completed before the 2006 season which included the addition of 6,500 seats in the north endzone and the construction of the Osborne Athletic Complex.
With a capacity of 81,067, Memorial Stadium is the fourth largest in the Big 12.
Memorial Stadium – Oklahoma Sooners
Located in Norman, OK, Memorial Stadium is the home of the Oklahoma Sooners. Memorial Stadium was named in honor of University of Oklahoma personnel who died in World War I.
In the early 1920s a group of students formed a committee to look into building a new stadium. Support increased, and by 1921 construction began on the new facility. Construction of the new stadium took two years and was built at a cost of $293,000 with a seating capacity of 16,000.
The Sooners played their first game at Memorial Stadium on October 20, 1923 against Washington University. As the Sooner program continued to gain popularity, the need for additional seats became a priority.
In 1929 an additional 16,000 seats were added to the east side of the stadium and by 1949, another 23,000 seats were added to increase capacity to 55,000.
In 1975 a major renovation included the construction of the upper deck and a new press box added 15,000 seats, raising capacity to 70,000. In 1980 5,000 more seats were added and in 1995 another major renovation saw the construction of nine suites and a new scoreboard.
In 2003 a two-year project began that included the addition of 54 suites and an additional 8,000 seats bringing capacity to its present day total of 82,112. Memorial Stadium is the third largest in the Big 12.
Please check back next week for the third installment!
Similar Posts:
- College Football’s Best Stadiums
- College Football’s Best Stadiums – Part 4
- College Football’s Best Stadiums – Part 3
- Future College Football Schedules
- College Football Pre-Season Top 25
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Lloyds Apple on Thu, 31st Jul 2008 07:41
Nice read but I had to do it; Camp Randall is the 4th largest stadium in the Big 10. PSU made sure of that…
F. C. King Links « Loser with Socks on Thu, 31st Jul 2008 08:47
[...] – Arkansas develops a plan to beat Bama MoonDog – Best college football stadiums, part 2 Busted Coverage – Places Greg Oden would rather be than [...]
Frankie on Thu, 31st Jul 2008 15:17
Memorial Stadium, otherwise known as the “Sea of Red” has been sold out since 1962. – check out my article today, 7/31, on HuskerVoice.com for more about this topic.
Thanks!
Frankie
jon on Thu, 31st Jul 2008 18:01
It seems like an inordinate number of stadiums in the midwest are named “Memorial Stadium.” One would imagine that after awhile, we’d have to start fighting random wars every time a new stadium needs to be constructed.
Plus, it sort of takes away from being able to say “hey, have you been to so and so (stadium name)?” and instead replaces it with “Hey have you been to Memorial? No, not that one… No, not that one either… No, not that one… the one over in Nebraska. No, not that one, the one in Lincoln… No, not that one,…” Need I continue? I can, if I need to.
3rd Down H-Back on Sat, 2nd Aug 2008 08:18
Good read but is this your opinion or a consensus? Big 10 = Fail
I have even hear Michigan fans call the Big House the world’s quietest 100k people
MoonDog on Sat, 2nd Aug 2008 12:51
Just my opinion. The histories of the stadiums are really interesting. Other than that, I have a few personal favorites but these are the more recognized throughout college football.