NCAA Division 1-A football stadiums (bandwidth warning)

[Simmo79]

For those keeping track at home, we have covered teams from the following conferences:-

Southeastern Conference (SEC) – [5 of 12] Tennessee, (Alabama), Georgia, Louisiana State, Florida with:

Kentucky Wildcats, South Carolina Gamecocks, Vanderbilt Commodores, Arkansas Razorbacks, Auburn Tigers, Ole Miss Rebels, Mississippi State Bulldogs to come.

Big Ten - [3 of 11] - Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State.

With Illinois Fighting Illini, Indiana Hoosiers, Iowa Hawkeyes, Michigan State Spartans, Minnesota Golden Gophers, Northwestern Wildcats, Purdue Boilermakers and Wisconsin Badgers to come

Pacific-10 – [2 of 10] – UCLA, Southern California with

Arizona Wildcats, Arizona State Sun Devils, California Golden Bears, Oregon Ducks, Oregon State Beavers, Stanford Cardinal, Washington Huskies and Washington State Cougars to come.

And we will soon come to schools from the following conferences:-

Big 12 -
Colorado Buffaloes, Iowa State Cyclones, Kansas Jayhawks, Kansas State Wildcats, Missouri Tigers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Baylor Bears, Oklahoma Sooners, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Texas Longhorns, Texas A&M Aggies and Texas Tech Red Raiders

Atlantic Coast Conference -
Boston College Eagles, Clemson Tigers, Duke Blue Devils, Florida State Seminoles, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Maryland Terrapins, Miami Hurricanes, North Carolina Tar Heels, North Carolina State Wolfpack, Virginia Cavaliers, Virginia Tech Hokies and Wake Forest Demon Deacons.


Big East -
Cincinnati Bearcats, Connecticut Huskies, Louisville Cardinals, Pittsburgh Panthers,
Rutgers Scarlet Knights, South Florida Bulls, Syracuse Orange, West Virginia Mountaineers

And Notre Dame, Army and Navy who are Independents.


It’ll be ages before we get to the non-BCS/mid-major conferences (Mountain West Conference, Western American Conference, Sun Belt conference, Mid-American and Confernce USA). They’re not particularly interesting, except Dogma might be interested in some poxy stadiums.

edit: the Mountain West Conference is pretty good.

[hot_dogma]

I bet the crappest collegiate stadium in the US would sh*t over anything we have here at our unis.

[Timbo]

The crappiest US college stadia s^%t upon most of our professional sport grounds, forget about the Unis!

[Jeffles]

Of course most college teams in the US are filling a void that we fill with professional sides. The comparison is inappropriate

[tom]

As one who also is interested in NCAA venues it seemed to me only natural to check out College arenas' but there is no easy source of info anywhere. You literally have to go each Div 1 college's web sight and home that they've got more than a seating plan. Oh well
Final 4 is again in Indianapolis at the RCA dome, after all those Hoosiers are the Basketball state.

[alabakiwi]

There are a few places to go. Try:

http://www.ballparks.com/ (click on football fields and then NCAA)

http://www.collegegridirons.com/

http://www.collegecharlie.com/stadiums.html

I think that should take care of your appetite for a while.

[tom]

Thanks mate but I meant Arena's as opposed to Stadiums. You know, Basketball halls and so on.

[Simmo79]

#10 Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn University(Auburn, Alabama)

Capacity: 87,451





Auburn University (AU) is a state university located in Auburn, Alabama.
It was chartered by the Alabama Legislature as the East Alabama Male College in 1856, under the guidance of the Methodist Church.
With over 23,000 students and 1,200 faculty, it is the largest university in the state.
In football, Auburn plays in the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference.



Auburn played the first football game in the Deep South in 1892 against the University of Georgia at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia.
AU Football has won six SEC Conference Championships, and since the division of the conference in 1992, six western division championships and three trips to the SEC Championship game.
Two Auburn players, Bo Jackson in 1985 and Pat Sullivan in 1971, have won the Heisman Trophy (MVP).
The Trophy's namesake, John Heisman also coached at Auburn from 1895 until 1899.




Auburn plays archrival Alabama each year in a game known as the Iron Bowl.
The Iron Bowl is considered by many fans of the sport to be the most heated intercollegiate football rivalry in the nation.
The deep-seated football hatred between Alabama and Auburn has historically spilled over into the politics and society of the state of Alabama.
For most of the 20th century, both schools played many of their home games in Birmingham(where they love the Guvnor) due,
in part, to the difficulty of travel to both Tuscaloosa (University of Alabama campus)
and Auburn as well as insufficient on-campus facilities at both campuses.
Over the years, Auburn's stadium was steadily enlarged and Auburn was
able to convince most of its opponents to travel to Auburn for a true home-and-home series.
Alabama, however, continued to play half its home games each season in Birmingham.
By 1980, when the west upper deck of Jordan-Hare was completed, the only remaining 'neutral site' game on Auburn's schedule was the Iron Bowl.



Auburn fans perceived the Birmingham game to be an Alabama home game.
Auburn set out to move their home game to Auburn with the addition of the east upper deck which would make Jordan-Hare the largest stadium in the state.
On December 2, 1989, a sellout crowd would witness Auburn win its first true 'home' game of the series, 30-20
over an Alabama team that entered the game unbeaten and ranked #2 in the country.
Alabama continued to hold their home game at Legion Field until the 2000 season where it was once again played in Tuscaloosa in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Alabama leads the series 38-31-1 but Auburn currently has a 4 game winning streak that started in 2002.





Jordan-Hare Stadium was constructed in 1939 when it seated 7,500 and was called Auburn Stadium.
In 1949 the seating capacity was increased to 21,500 and the stadium was renamed Cliff Hare Stadium, in honour of Clifford Leroy Hare, a member of Auburn's first football team,
president of the old Southern Conference and longtime chairman of Auburn's Faculty Athletic Committee.
The stadium then received additions in 1955 to 34,500, in 1960 to 44,500, and in 1970 to 61,261.
In 1973 the stadium was renamed Jordan-Hare Stadium honouring Auburn's all-time winningest football coach Ralph "Shug" Jordan.



With the addition of the west upper deck in 1980, and the east upper deck in 1987, the stadium became the largest in the
state of Alabama (but will soon by overtaken by Alabama’s Bryant-Denny stadium).
The 2004 stadium expansion extended the east upper deck by an additional section on each end,
adding more luxury suites and additional general seating to reach the current capacity to 87,451.
On game-days, the stadium becomes the fifth-largest city in the state of Alabama.



Auburn completed the 2004 football season with an unblemished 13–0 record winning the SEC championship, their first conference title since 1989 and their first outright title since 1987.
However, this achievement was somewhat overshadowed by the Tigers being left out of the BCS championship
game in deference to two other undefeated, higher ranked teams, USC and Oklahoma.
Auburn completed the 2005 football season with a record of 9-3 even after all the
experts predicted they would have a down year with the loss of the talent they had in 2004.
The regular season however, was capped off with a rousing 28-18 defeat of arch-rival Alabama
and one of the greatest games in the Auburn - Georgia rivalry after Auburn won 31-30.
In postseason play at the Capital One Bowl the Tigers lost 24-10 to an inspired Wisconsin.
In 2005, the Tigers averaged 84,161 fans to their 7 home games.

[alabakiwi]

I just hate Auburn...

[Simmo79]

They are Spurs to your noble Arsenal, Rangers to your holy Celtic.

And sorry about the formatting for the Auburn post - there were very very few decent shots from within the stadium and none that would fit nicely.

[sandyhill]

Still loving this thread. These huge college stadiums, and the info provied about them, just shows that a majority of American sports fans (far more follow the NCAA than the NFL, Superbowl excepted) are more traditional than what we might think.

[Jeffles]

I just hate Auburn...

Me too. They're so much nicer in Lidcombe.

[Simmo79]

#11 Bryant-Denny Stadium, University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, Alabama)

(see p2 of this thread)
I don’t want to steal Alabakiwi’s thunder on Bryant-Denny Stadium and ‘Bama’s storied football history
(particularly the stories of Bear Bryant and F.Gump), so mate, if you want to tell all about the Crimson Tide, please go ahead.

---------


#12 Kyle Field, Texas A& M (College Station, Texas).

Capacity: 82,600




Texas A&M University, often "Texas A&M", "A&M" or "TAMU" for short, is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System.
The Main Campus is located in College Station, Texas, also known as Aggieland.
The metropolitan area of Bryan-College Station, has a population of 152,415.
The city is centrally located in East Texas, approximately equidistant from three of the 10 largest cities in the United States.
It is 160km north of Houston, 250km northeast of San Antonio and 250km south of Dallas-Fort Worth.
It is just 160km east of Austin, the state capital of Texas and home of their arch-rivals the University of Texas.
The university has an enrolment of over 43,000.



A charter member of the Southwest Conference until its dissolution in 1996, Texas A&M now competes in the
Big 12 Conference (South Division) of the NCAA's Division I-A.
They are one of 4 Texas colleges in that conference.
Their colours are maroon and white.
Their major rival is the University of Texas, known to Aggies as "texas university" or simply "t.u.".
In 2004, sporting events between Texas A&M and the University of Texas became known as the "Lone Star Showdown".
The most-watched part of this rivalry is the annual football game held on the day after Thanksgiving.
The Aggies also have a smaller rivalries with Texas Tech, Baylor and Oklahoma.




Originally built between 1927 and 1929, Kyle Field was named for Edwin Jackson Kyle,
who served as Texas A&M's dean of agriculture and athletic council president.

Old school:


The Aggies have always been tough to beat at Kyle Field with an all-time record of 247-119-12 (66.9 winning percentage)
on their home field. In the 1990s, Texas A&M was dominant at Kyle Field with a 55-4-1 (92.5 winning percentage) record.
During that span, the Aggies put together two of the longest home winning streaks in school history.
From 1990 to 1995, the Aggies won 31 straight games at Kyle Field, which ranks as the fifth-longest by an
NCAA Division 1-A school since World War II. The Aggies also won 22 straight at Kyle Field from 1996 to 2000.

After 9/11:



The Aggies have won one National Championship, in 1939.
They have also been a powerhouse of Texas football.
Their last conference championship was in 1998 (Big 12) and
they were also 17 times champions of the Southwest Conference before it was dissolved.



But in 2005, the Aggies had a bit of a ‘mare.
They had a losing record of 5-6 which precluded them from participating in a Bowl game.
The 6 losses included losing the final 4 of the season including a home loss to eventual National Champions, Texas.
Not a good year to be an Aggie.
Their fans remained pretty loyal though as they averaged 79,732 to their 6 homes games.



East stand:


The stadium was expanded in 1967 to include two decks of grandstands,
and the third decks were added to the east and west sides in 1980.
The Aggies played on grass through the 1960s, but A&M became one of the many schools that switched to artificial turf in the early 1970s.
Grass returned to Kyle Field in 1996.


Before the North Zone:


The $32.9 million north end zone expansion was completed in 1999.
The formation of the Bernard C. Richardson Zone raised the capacity of Kyle Field to 82,600,
making it the largest football stadium in the state of Texas.
The Zone also brings the fans in the north end zone 65 feet closer to the action on the field of play.
The redevelopment also saw the end of the use of the athletics track.



Atop the third deck of the west side of Kyle Field is A&M's two-level press area.
The A&M press box, which puts the radio/television outlets on the lower level and the writers on the upper level, has been rated among the nation's
finest many times and can accomodate more than 250 members of the working press.
Texas A&M's postgame press briefings are held in a spacious auditorium which features phone lines, studio lighting and a raised camera deck.

West Stand:



Future redevelopment?


A long-term expansion plan Kyle Field would replicate the North Zone at the south end zone, boosting the stadium’s capacity to 115,000
and making it the largest football venue in the United States.
Texas also has a similar plan in the offing – go lone star state football!

[alabakiwi]

I don't know if I have any thunder to steal...

Feel free to cover Bryant-Denny Stadium, or for that matter Legion Field in Birmingham, which until the last decade hosted Alabama's big games.

You're doing a really good job.

[Simmo79]

(back to) #11 Bryant-Denny Stadium, University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, Alabama)
Capacity: 83,818 (expansion to 90,000+ will be completed later this year).



Founded in 1831, UA is the flagship campus of the University of Alabama System.
UA is the senior doctoral university in the state. Today, it is one of the state's three major research universities, along with academic and athletic rival Auburn University and the much younger University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Alabama has an enrollment of more than 21,750 students.




Athletic teams at the University of Alabama are known as the Crimson Tide. The University is a member of the competitive Southeastern Conference (Western Division). The 83,818-seat Bryant-Denny Stadium is named after legendary football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and former UA President George Denny. Bear Bryant was the head coach of the football team from 1958 until 1982. He achieved much status in the sport, winning the national championship six times, and setting the record as the all-time (up to that time) most successful coach in NCAA Division I college football, with a record of 323-85-17.



Alabama maintains athletic rivalries with Auburn University and the University of Tennessee. The rivalry with Auburn is especially heated as it encompasses all sports. The annual Alabama-Auburn game is nicknamed the Iron Bowl and is considered one of the most intense games in all of college football. UA also share rivalries with Tennessee and Louisiana State University.

pano:









The Tide's football team, started in 1892, is one of the oldest in the country. The program's tradition is rich; it has won 21 SEC titles and a total of 12 national championships: in 1925, 1926, 1930, 1934, 1941, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1979, 1992 (tied with Notre Dame and 1 ahead of Southern California).

There are also five additional years in which the NCAA's official record book recognizes the Crimson Tide as national champion: 1945, 1962, 1966, 1975, and 1977. The team has played in 53 bowl games (30 wins, 20 losses, and 3 ties), has 17 hall-of-famers, and 91 All-Americans honored 101 times. Alabama quarterbacks also won the first three Super Bowls.

In 2005, Bama averaged 81,018 fans to their 7 home games and had a record of 9-2 (including 6-2 within the SEC) scoring an invite to the Cotton Bowl (played in Dallas) against Texas Tech of the Big 12. They won 13-10.



--
Bryant Denny Stadium, home of the Alabama Crimson Tide since 1929, is now one of the largest stadiums in college football. The University of Alabama decided it was time for a new stadium for the Tids by the mid 1920’s and built a 12,000 seat stadium. The Tide christened the stadium, originally known as George Hutchenson Denny Stadium on September 28, 1929.




The first of many expansions took place in 1937 when 6,000 seats were added to the east side. By 1946 bleachers were at both end zones of the stadium and the capacity was 31,000. A new press box and 12,000 seats where added in time for the 1961 season increasing the capacity to 43,000.
1966:


Additions in both 1966 and 1998 including the construction of the upper deck on the west side were completed. The stadium now had seating for 70,123 fans.

1988:


In 1975, state legislature renamed George Hutchenson Denny Stadium, Bryant Denny Stadium. The most recent addition came in 1998, when the east side upper deck was constructed. The project also included 81 new skyboxes, a video/scoreboard on the south end, new lights, an east side entrance tower, and a brick façade for the facility. Today, Bryant Denny Stadium holds 83,818 fans but is undergoing an expansion of the north end zone area which will include additional sky boxes and a club level area as well as traditional upper deck seating. The expansion will add approximately 10,000 seats to Bryant-Denny Stadium

2006 Expansion:









Legion Field, (Birmingham, Alabama) - University of Alabama, Brimingham (UAB) Blazers & University of Alabama (UA)
Capacity: 71,594 (current); 83,810 (before removal of upper deck)



Located in Alabama’s capital and largest city, Legion Field has seen many football games since its opening in 1926. Originally built with a seating capacity of 21,000 the first game at the stadium occurred on November 19, 1927 when Howard battled Birmingham Southern. The stadium was named after the American Legion, in memory of the men who served in the US armed forces (RSL Stadium, anyone?).



1967:



Until the 1990s the University of Alabama played the majority of their home football games at Legion Field, a practice that has now ended. Auburn University had used the stadium similarly for a while, but not as extensively, for it had played some of its home games in Columbus, Georgia as well as Jordan-Hare Stadium. Auburn enlarged its campus stadium to a seating capacity roughly equal to that of Legion Field well before the University of Alabama had done so with their Bryant-Denny Stadium.



It currently serves as the home field for the UAB Blazers, who compete in Conference USA – one of the “mid-major” conferences. C-USA is the 9th ranked of the 12 Division 1-A conferences for attendances.



In 2005, the Blazers finished with 5-6 record and pulled an average of 20,101 to their 5 home games at Legion Field (ranked 88th in average attendances) .


Over the past seven decades, Legion Field has undergone many expansion projects along with hosting a variety of football teams. In 1991, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Blazers began playing at Legion Field. Also during the early 1990’s the upper deck on the west side was constructed. Also, a new press box and luxury suites were built giving Legion Field its current capacity of just over 80,000. The stadium is famous for hosting the 1996 Summer Olympic soccer matches. The Blazers continue to play at the stadium but struggle to attract enough fans to fill half of Legion Field’s capacity. There has been talk of possibly replacing the stadium with a smaller one for the team. In 2004 a structural evaluation determined that the 9000 seat upper deck, installed in 1961, would need major remediation to meet modern building codes. Because the capacity of the stadium was well beyond the needs of its current tenant, the process of dismantling and removing the upper deck was begun in June 2005, and completed two months later. (But I can’t find a picture without the deck).