NCAA Division 1-A football stadiums (bandwidth warning)

[hot_dogma]

#4 Ohio Stadium, Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio)

Capcity: 101,568


Located near the geographic center of the state, the state capital has a population of 1,612,694, ranking it third in Ohio (behind Cleveland and Cincinnati). The Columbus campus of OSU is currently one of the largest student bodies in the United States, with 50,504 students enrolled.



The Buckeyes played their first game at Ohio Stadium on October 7, 1922 against Ohio Wesleyan. When it opened in 1922, Ohio Stadium had a seating capacity of 66,210 in a distinctive double decked horseshoe configuration. The Buckeyes have been very successful over the years and additional renovations have been completed at Ohio Stadium.





The latest renovations and expansions came between 1998 and 2001. This expansion included the removal of the Jesse Owens Track and lowering the field by 14 feet. With the lowering of the field, additional rows were added. Furthermore, a 40 foot tall shell was added on the east and west sides of the stadium to allow the rim to be raised and to add 17 rows of seats. A new video/scoreboard along with 76 luxury suites and 2,500 club seats were added.




Temporary bleachers in the open end of the horseshoe were replaced with a permanent grandstand, as well as improving the seating and concourse areas.


The result of the $194 million renovation was to raise capacity to 101,568. Amazingly, 80% of the cost of the renovation was funded by the sale of leases on the suites and club seats, with the rest funded by various gifts and the sale of the naming rights of portions of the stadium, using no public or university money.


Ohio Stadium brought in its largest crowd on September 10, 2005, with 105,565 fans in attendance to watch the Buckeyes' first ever match-up against the University of Texas at Austin (and eventual 2005 national champions), a game which the Buckeyes lost 25-22.

Today, Ohio Stadium is one of the finest stadiums in the nation with a seating capacity of 101,568. The Buckeyes have led the nation in attendance 20 times throughout the years. In 2005, OSU averaged crowds of 105,107 over their 7 home games.

The Buckeye football team won the 2002 college football national championship at the 2003 Fiesta Bowl. It was the seventh national championship for the football team, which also topped the nation in 1942, 1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, and 1970. The Buckeyes closed out the 2005 season with seven consecutive victories (finishing 10-2), were Big Ten co-champions, defeated Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl and wound up fourth in the final national rankings.


Next…not sure. I mistakenly thought Ohio was 3rd biggest so I need a good list to work off. edit: http://www.infoplease.com/ipsa/A0105761.html#A0105762

Edit on 2 June 2006:
Old view before horseshoe filled in.


Rotunda (under the old curved Endzone). Class.


Before the running track was removed (and before Global warming)

Forza Buckeyes!

Went past the horseshow on gameday and saw all the tailgate parties. Pity I couldn't attend.

[MikeGA1978]

Crimson Tide: supposedly comes from the fans wearing crimson (which has always been the team's colours) and a sports write way back said, looking up in the stands, the fans looked like a sea of crimson, a crimson tide.

Hence "Roll Tide."

But, the mascot is an elephant, which supposedly comes from another writer remarking that the team running out onto the field were like a herd of elephants.

Auburn University, Alabama's rival, are called the Auburn Tigers and the Tiger mascot is called Aubie (pronounced Or-by), but they also have an eagle as a mascot too, and their "battle cry" is "War Eagle!"

Arkansas are the razorbacks and the fans shout "Soiue" which is a pig call.

Georgia is the bulldogs and their fans say "ugga ugga" and their mascot is called "Ugga" the bulldog.

And LSU are the Tigers, but are also known as the Bayou Bengals.

I know I am two years late BUT...... His name is Uga as in the University of GeorgiA. Currently it is Uga VII. Uga VI has passed away since your post and was buried in the stadium like all the Uga's before him. And what is "ugga ugga"?! Seriously, where did that come from? The only thing that comes to mind is the kickoff cheer. "GoooooOOOOOO DAWGS! SIC 'EM! WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF"

[alabakiwi]

For what it's worth, this was announced today. I walk by this stadium on my way to work everyday.

Oh, and Alabama is 10-0 and ranked #1 in the nation at the moment.

The end zone stand closest the green space (a grave yard) is the addition.

There are also plans to build a hotel next to the stadium (in the top left of the plans, but not shown in the plans).

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/2 ... 00_in_2010

Tide football stadium could seat 101,000 in 2010

TUSCALOOSA | An expansion of Bryant-Denny Stadium could be completed before the 2010 season, if everything falls into place, University of Alabama President Robert Witt said Thursday.

UA committee trustees approved the look, estimated cost and scope of an expansion to the football stadium’s south end zone Thursday, and the full board is expected to approve it today. However, Witt said the project has not reached a point of no return.

“A decision hasn’t been made, but we want everything in place so that if we do decide to move forward it will be ready for fall 2010,” Witt said after the meeting.

With an estimated price tag of

$80.6 million, the project would expand the stadium’s south end zone and increase Bryant-Denny Stadium’s capacity to more than 101,000, according to documents given to trustees.

Included in the project would be an 8,500-seat upper deck with concourse and concessions, 3,200 club seats split into a 1,500-seat “South Zone” and 1,700-seat “Stadium Club,” 34 skyboxes, two expanded skyboxes, a donor hall of fame, Crimson Tide Foundation offices and a ground-level market for food and merchandise.

As with the last end zone expansion, the current seating in the upper rows of the main bowl would be removed, but the project would net about 9,000 seats.

Since the expansion would go where the scoreboard now sits, two video boards would be placed in the corners between the expanded upper deck and the existing upper decks, according to board documents.

Trustees didn’t ask questions or comment on the brief presentation Thursday, which included several artist conceptions of the addition. It is similar to the recent expansion of the north end zone, but not a mirror image. The brick and glass front appears to be a bit wider on the south end zone and extends nearly to the curb of Paul W. Bryant Drive.

After the meeting, Witt said three financial pieces need to fall into place before he and other administrators ask trustees for permission to build the addition:

n First, the $80.6 million cost is an estimate. “We need to get a better handle on costs,” he said.

n The global credit crunch and stock market tumble scared investors from loaning money, essentially freezing the bond market in early October. Bonds are being issued again, but Witt said UA needs to take a wait-and-see approach to see how bond terms shake out in the coming months.

UA plans to pay for the expansion up front through debt, issuing a bond for the cost of construction. However, the expansion should more than pay for itself over time, according to board documents.

n Third, Witt said he wants to see how the economy will affect donations to the university.

“So far donations haven’t been hurt, but I’d like a little bit more information than one month,” he said, referring to October, the volatile first month of the fiscal year.

In a statement, Mal Moore, UA athletics director, said the vote by trustees Thursday is simply the next step in the process.

“We are continuing to explore the feasibility of stadium expansion and want the board to have the most information available at this time,” Moore said.

The expansion of the south end zone has been discussed since early 2007 when demand for tickets skyrocketed after the university hired head football coach Nick Saban. In April 2007, UA hired Davis Architects to study an expansion of the south end zone next to Bryant Drive as part of an athletic facility master plan.

UA paid $50 million to add roughly 9,000 seats to the north end zone before the 2006 season.

[Simmo79]

Roll Tide Motherfucker

this was an inevitable development even without them going no1 in the polls. I reckon they'll win the Iron Bowl and meet Florida in the SECCG but either team could win that game.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Roll Tide Motherfucker

this was an inevitable development even without them going no1 in the polls. I reckon they'll win the Iron Bowl and meet Florida in the SECCG but either team could win that game.

I'm watching Alabama in one of these bowl games at the moment. They are getting arsewhipped by University of Utah.

I find these college 'bowl games' really confusing to follow. Why are there so many? What is the best one? Who goes where? And more succinctly, why?

Can somebody explain this US-college sports n00b what it is all about & how it works?

I'm going back to watch the game. There is an edge about college football you just don't get in the multi-million $$$ world of pro football in the NFL.

JF

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Alabama are coming back. Utah are leading 28-17 with 2:42 to play in the 2nd quarter.

JF

[alabakiwi]

I'm too depressed to even discuss this right now.

[Simmo79]

ROLLED TIDE!

That was a good game. it's been mentioned about the internet that Utah's previous coach was Florida's Urban Meyer who probably gave them a 1st class scouting report on Bama.

JF:

Short answer: it's a f***ing mess.

Long answer: There isn't a play-off system in Division 1A NCAA football (Football Bowl Subdivision as it's now properly known). They play one-off bowl games around the country instead where the organisers of each bowl game invite two universities to play in their city. It used to be relatively straightforward working out which teams went to which bowl because the conferences would be contracted to send a rep to various bowls

There's a hierarchy of bowls that looks roughly like this.

Most prestigious bowls are played in the new year: Rose Bowl in LA, Orange Bowl in Miami, Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix and the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. Traditionally, those bowls featured a predictable hook-up between conferences (eg/ the Rose Bowl was Pac-10 winner v Big 10 winner). But having 4 big bowls meant that there were almost always more than 1 team that believed they had a right to be considered national champions.

So they created a national chamoionship game between the top two ranked teams as judged by their records, strength of schedule and the beauty contest voting of journalists and coaches. It's a dreadful unobjective system.

Then there's a small number of less prestigious bowls that still pay nicely like the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, the Outback Bowl in Tampa, the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. There are 34 bowl games in total and at least half are only of interest to the fans of the teams involved. Many of those games are played in the week leading up to xmas.

Creating a NC game stuffs up the bowl pairings so it's hard to see at the end of the season exactly who should be playing in what game or even which conferences will tie into a particular game. When the bowl matchups are announced the internet buzzes with wailing and the gnashing of teeth and blog entries bemoaning the lack of a proper play-off system.


The upshot of this whole weird undpredictable post-season is that you can be an undefeated winner of a big confernce and go to play in the national championship game in a sold out NFL stadium playing in front of tv audience of 30m. Or end up in Mobile, Alabama playing in the GMAC bowl in front of 20,000 fans and half a million people on the telly. Or not be bowl eligible at all.

It's weird and totally awesome.

And the National Championship game is on at about midday on Friday between Florida (SEC Champs, 12-1 record) and Oklahoma (Big 12 Champs, 12-1 Record).

I reckon Florida will win.

[alabakiwi]

If I could add to the above post, I would say that there are simply too many bowls. This year there were 34 bowl games, which pitted a lot of teams that went 6-6 against one another (or comparable to that) played in front of small crowds, but because each bowl pays out a certain amount of money and ESPN wants more product this looks set to continue.

It used to be prestigious to get invited to a bowl game but now about half of all the 120 teams can go provided they achieve a .500 record.

[Simmo79]

and adding to that...

some of the bowls are just a rort to give a team another home game. The Hawaii Bowl always invites Hawaii (unless they somehow get invited to a big bowl like they did last you when they got humped by Georgia in the Sugar Bowl) and the New Mexico Bowl almost always invites New Mexico. That's abusing the system IMO.

[alabakiwi]

Ahhh, but this is part of tradition and why there can't be a proper NC game. Or that's what excuse is often used. What rot.

Can you imagine sports writers voting for a team they thought was better than another team in the NRL, AFL, Super 14, etc, to get in the Championship game? It's Un-American.

Although, to be fair, if rugby did it this way the All Blacks would have won every Rugby World Cup.

[Simmo79]

7 - 7 at halftime in Miami.

I only had a brief look at the game down at the local club but both offences looked sharp. I suppose D must be dominating when I'm not looking.

[Simmo79]

14 - 14 early in the 4th. I can't tell if this is a bad game or a classic.

[IanRitchie]

beats a pathetic blowout.

[Simmo79]

Florida wins 24 - 14.

That's 2 in 3 years and their 3rd overall.

chomp chomp chomp chomp.