sport.wikisort.org - Stadium

Search / Calendar

Memorial Stadium, nicknamed The Sea of Red, is an American football stadium located on the campus of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in Lincoln, Nebraska. The stadium primarily serves as the home venue for the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team and a variety of other university and state activities.

Tom Osborne Field at
Memorial Stadium
"The Sea of Red"
Memorial Stadium in 2007
Lincoln
Location in the United States
Lincoln
Location in Nebraska
Address600 Stadium Drive
LocationLincoln, Nebraska
OwnerUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln
OperatorUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln
Capacity85,458 (since 2017)[1]
Record attendance91,585 (Sept. 20, 2014)
SurfaceFieldTurf
Construction
Broke groundApril 26, 1923[2]
OpenedOctober 20, 1923; 99 years ago (1923-10-20)
Renovated2006
Expanded1964, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1998, 2006, 2013
Construction cost$430,000 (original structure)
($6.84 million in 2021[3])
ArchitectJohn Latenser Sr. and Sons[4]
Davis & Wilson
Project managerEarl Hawkins
Structural engineerMeyer & Jolly[5]
General contractorParsons Construction Co.[6]
Tenants
Nebraska Cornhuskers football (1923–present)
NSAA State Football Championship (1996–present)
Website
huskers.com/memorial-stadium

Memorial Stadium was built in 1923 at a cost of $450,000 and a capacity of 31,080 to replace Nebraska Field, where the Cornhuskers played home games from 1909 to 1922. The first game at the new stadium was a 24–0 Nebraska victory over Oklahoma on October 13, 1923.[7] A series of expansions raised the stadium's capacity to 85,458, but attendance numbers have in the past exceeded 90,000. Nebraska has sold out an NCAA-record 388 consecutive games at Memorial Stadium, a streak that dates back to 1962.


Construction


Two images of Memorial Stadium in 1923; (above): dedication; (below): fans flooding the west grandstand

In 1909, the University of Nebraska constructed Nebraska Field on the corner of North 10th Street and T Street in downtown Lincoln, the school's first football-only stadium.[8] However, its wooden construction meant and limited seating capacity meant that after less than ten years there was significant momentum toward the building of a larger steel-and-concrete stadium for the Cornhuskers. The abrupt departure of highly successful head coach Ewald O. Stiehm temporarily slowed this momentum, but by the early 1920s, with "the present athletic field as inadequate now as the old one was in 1907," the university began plans to build a new stadium on the site of Nebraska Field.[8]

The new stadium project was initially conceived as a combination gymnasium-stadium-war museum complex to be called the "Nebraska Soldiers and Sailors Memorial."[9] Enthusiasm for the fundraising effort was high following the death of former Nebraska football captain Dusty Rhodes, who was killed in action in France during World War I.[9] Due to a slow post-war economy, the scope of the project was decreased to just a football stadium (though the Nebraska Coliseum was ultimately completed next door to Memorial Stadium just three years later). John Latenser Sr. of Omaha and Ellery Davis of Lincoln were selected as the head architects for the new stadium as they were willing to work pro bono.[9] When the fundraising target amount of $450,000 had been met, construction began and a groundbreaking ceremony was held on April 23, 1923. Construction was completed on the 31,000-seat stadium in just over ninety days, in time for NU's first home game of the 1923 season, a 24–0 win over Oklahoma on October 13. Memorial Stadium was dedicated the following week to honor Nebraskans who served in the American Civil War and the Spanish–American War, and the 751 Nebraskans who died in World War I. Later, the dedication was expanded to honor Nebraskans who died in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.

Each corner of the stadium was given an inscription from philosophy professor Hartley Burr Alexander:[10]

The stadium, in its original layout, had open end zones and grandstands on the east and west sides of the field with seating for up to 31,080 fans.[11] A track surrounded the playing field for use by the school's track and field program.


Expansion


Memorial Stadium remained largely unchanged for over a decade after its 1923 opening, and by the mid-1930s the university began planning to build extra football facilities along the stadium's north end zone.[12] After struggling for years to acquire the necessary land in the adjoining neighborhood, construction finally began in 1941, only to be quickly halted due to the United States' entry into World War II. Construction resumed after the war ended and the Schulte Fieldhouse was completed in 1946, providing locker rooms, extra practice facilities, and showers to the football program. The Fieldhouse was named for former football and longtime track and field coach Henry Schulte, who died in 1944 while construction was paused. The building was used by the program until 2006, when the Osborne Athletic Complex was constructed on the site.

The stadium's first expansion from its original capacity of 31,080 came in 1964, when permanent seats were added to the south end zone, turning the stadium into a 48,000-seat horseshoe. The north end zone was enclosed in two stages from 1965 to 1966, bringing the stadium's capacity to 64,170. A press box was added in 1967 and the south end zone was expanded further in 1972, raising capacity to 73,650.

1973 aerial image of Memorial Stadium
1973 aerial image of Memorial Stadium

In the early 1980s, portable lighting was occasionally used to allow Memorial Stadium to host late afternoon games on national television, often against Oklahoma. The first official night game at Memorial Stadium took place on September 6, 1986, when Nebraska defeated Florida State 34–17.[13] Permanent lighting was installed in 1999, which was replaced with an LED lighting system in 2018.[14]

In the mid-1990s the university began a wide-ranging, $36-million expansion of West Stadium, adding luxury boxes, a larger press box, a stadium lounge, and a new façade facing Stadium Drive; the expansion raised the stadium's capacity to 74,056. It was re-dedicated on April 24, 1998, months after Tom Osborne retired from coaching, as "Tom Osborne Field at Memorial Stadium." While this construction was ongoing, former quarterback Brook Berringer was killed in a plane crash on April 18, 1996, just two days before the 1996 NFL Draft, where he was projected to be an early- to mid-round pick. Berringer, a Scottsbluff, Nebraska native, was beloved for starting and winning several crucial games in place of injured starter Tommie Frazier during NU's 1994 national championship-winning season. A statue of Osborne and Berringer was commissioned and installed at the main entrance of the Osborne Athletic Complex on the north side of the stadium.

Construction began in 2004 to renovate and expand the north end zone, adding an additional 6,000 seats and thirteen luxury boxes called "Skyline Suites," which brought the stadium's capacity to 81,067. At the time of its completion, the 33-foot (10 m) tall, 120-foot (37 m) wide scoreboard at Memorial Stadium was the largest in any college football stadium. Before the 2009 season, two new high-definition video screens were added on the northeast and northwest pillars of the original stadium. Concurrently, ribbon boards stretching the length of the field were installed along the east and west balconies of the stadium.

The Osborne Athletic Complex, as seen in 2010
The Osborne Athletic Complex, as seen in 2010

On October 15, 2010, the university announced its Board of Regents approved an East Stadium expansion project anticipated to cost up to $65 million, increasing the stadium's capacity to 87,147. This expansion included 3,300 new general admission seats, 2,119 new club seats and thirty-eight additional luxury suites. The expansion totaled more than 6,000 new seats and brought the number of private suites inside the stadium to 101.[15] The original east façade of the stadium was preserved within a new entrance lobby. The expansion included creation of the first standing room-only area in Memorial Stadium, and was made available for companies and private parties to host events on a game-to-game basis. The university constructed two 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) research facilities inside the new East Stadium, one dedicated to athletics and one to campus research. The project was completed and dedicated on August 22, 2013. The project was initially voted on by fans and donors, who were asked whether the university should prioritize stadium expansion or the preservation of the stadium's NCAA-record sellout streak; the most-supported option was a modest expansion designed to protect the streak while adding some general admission seats.[16] A statue of former head coach Bob Devaney was unveiled at the entrance of the newly renovated East Stadium and unveiled just before Nebraska's 2013 season opener against Wyoming; Nebraska and Wyoming were the only schools where Devaney served as a head coach at the collegiate level.[17]

Prior to the 2014 season, Nebraska completed a $12.3 million project to replace Memorial Stadium's twenty-year-old sound system and add a wireless network system to provide Wi-Fi to fans. A brick pattern was added to the base of West Stadium to match the appearance of the rest of the stadium and surrounding academic buildings.[18] Nebraska installed new videoboards at Memorial Stadium prior to the 2017 season, two of which were wrapped around the existing structure to allow fans in North Stadium, seated directly in front of the stadium's largest videoboard, clear screen viewing. An upper ribbon display was added to the second level of East Stadium.[19]

In 2015, the university replaced the bleachers along the top sections of the North Stadium, widening the seats from eighteen to twenty-two inches. Some seats were removed in the southwest corner of the stadium to allow for a new aisle to aid crowd congestion. This removed about 1,100 seats from Memorial Stadium.[20] Two years later, the university increased the width of seating in several other areas of the stadium, reducing official stadium capacity to 85,458.


Seating capacity



Playing surface


Western façade of Memorial Stadium
Western façade of Memorial Stadium

Nebraska played on natural grass from 1923, when Memorial Stadium was completed, through 1969. In 1970,[28] as part of head coach Bob Devaney's crusade to improve athletic facilities across the university, the stadium was fit with AstroTurf, an artificial turf glued to a foam plastic layer on a six-inch (15 cm) bed of asphalt. The Huskers won consecutive national championships in 1970 and 1971.

Several iterations of AstroTurf were installed at Memorial Stadium until 1999, when it became the first Division I-A venue to install FieldTurf. A second FieldTurf installation featuring an alternating light-and-dark green pattern every five yards was installed prior to the 2005 season; at the same time, the playing surface's prominent crown was reduced. A third FieldTurf iteration was installed in 2013, featuring a "lighter and cooler" playing surface by adding cork to the traditional top layer of recycled tire pellets.


Attendance


Eastern façade of Memorial Stadium prior to 2013 expansion
Eastern façade of Memorial Stadium prior to 2013 expansion

Nebraska has sold out 388 consecutive games at Memorial Stadium, the longest streak in any collegiate sport. The streak began on November 3, 1962, a 16–7 Missouri win over Nebraska in Bob Devaney's first season as head coach. NU's home record during the sellout streak is 315–67, including a forty-seven game home winning streak from 1991 to 1998, the second-longest in modern college football history.[29]

Memorial Stadium Attendance Records[30]
Rank Attendance Date Result
1 91,585Sept. 20, 2014No. 24 Nebraska 41, Miami 31
2 91,471Sept. 14, 2013No. 16 UCLA 41, No. 23 Nebraska 21
3 91,441Aug. 30, 2014No. 22 Nebraska 55, FAU 7
4 91,414Sept. 17, 2016Nebraska 35, No. 22 Oregon 32
5 91,255Sept. 27, 2014No. 21 Nebraska 45, Illinois 14
6 91,186Nov. 22, 2014Minnesota 28, No. 21 Nebraska 24
7 91,185Aug. 31, 2013No. 18 Nebraska 37, Wyoming 34
8 91,140Nov. 2, 2013Nebraska 27, Northwestern 24
9 91,107Nov. 1, 2014No. 17 Nebraska 35, Purdue 14
10 91,088Oct. 25, 2014No. 16 Nebraska 42, Rutgers 24

Longest home winning streaks


Rank Streak Date started Game started Date ended Game ended
1 47Oct. 19, 1991No. 9 Nebraska 38, Kansas State 31Oct. 31, 1998Texas 20, No. 7 Nebraska 16
2 26Nov. 27, 1998No. 14 Nebraska 16, Colorado 14Nov. 2, 2002No. 7 Texas 27, Nebraska 24
3 23Sept. 27, 1969Nebraska 14, Texas A&M 0Nov. 23, 1972No. 4 Oklahoma 17, No. 5 Nebraska 14
4 21Oct. 3, 1981Nebraska 17, Auburn 3Nov. 17, 1984No. 6 Oklahoma 17, No. 1 Nebraska 7
5 20Oct. 26, 1963Nebraska 41, Colorado 6Oct. 21, 1967No. 4 Colorado 21, Nebraska 16

High School Championships


Since 1996, Memorial Stadium has been the host for the Nebraska School Activities Association's state high school football championship finals,[31] including smaller schools that play eight-man football, which is played on fields smaller than standard size; the state's six-man football championship finals are played at University of Nebraska at Kearney's Cope Stadium. Prior to the move to Memorial Stadium, finals for each class were contested on the home fields of the high schools involved.


References


  1. "Game Notes: Nebraska vs. Arkansas State" (PDF). University of Nebraska–Lincoln Department of Athletics. August 28, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  2. University of Nebraska–Lincoln. "UNL Historic Buildings - Memorial Stadium". Retrieved February 18, 2008.
  3. 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  4. "UNL Historic Buildings- Memorial Stadium". University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  5. "Building the Nebraska University Concrete Stadium". Engineering News-Record. McGraw-Hill. 93 (13): 498. 1924.
  6. "UNL Historic Buildings- Memorial Stadium". University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  7. "Memorial Stadium". Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  8. Mike Babcock (11 March 2012). "How it was: Nebraska Field". 247sports. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  9. "Memorial Stadium". History Nebraska. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  10. "Nation's Best Facilities". Huskers.com. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  11. "Memorial Stadium". College Gridirons. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  12. "Schulte Field House". UNL Historic Buildings. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  13. "Huskers' Taylor-Made Performance Stings Florida St. With a 34-17 Loss". Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  14. "HuskerOnline - Big Red Business: LED lights top Memorial Stadium upgrades".
  15. Cordes, Henry. "Memorial Stadium expansion makes room for more fans-and more academic research". Omaha World Herald. Retrieved August 23, 2013.
  16. Kaipust, Rich (July 7, 2010). "Wanted: More Seats, Safe Sellout Streak". Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
  17. Dover, Haley (August 30, 2013). "Devaney statue unveiled". University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  18. "2014 Memorial Stadium Improvements". Huskers.com.
  19. "Husker Fans to Enjoy New Stadium Amenities". www.huskers.com. Nebraska Athletic Department. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  20. Ozaki, Andrew (10 September 2015). "UNL shrinks Memorial Stadium capacity for better fan experience". ketv.com. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  21. Mott, James A. (1966). "Wisconsin Football Facts 1966: Athletic Review 1965–1966". The University of Wisconsin Collection. p. 27. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
  22. "2014 Nebraska Football Media Guide" (PDF). www.huskers.com. Nebraska Athletic Department. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  23. Reed, Leslie (October 8, 2010). "Plan Means More Seats by 2013". Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  24. Kilmer, Reid (September 10, 2015). "Fewer Seats in Memorial Stadium". KLKN. Lincoln. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  25. Christopherson, Brian (March 27, 2011). "East Stadium Expansion Project Comes With Some Flexibility". Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  26. "Memorial Stadium". University of Nebraska. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  27. "Game Notes: Nebraska vs. Arkansas State" (PDF). www.huskers.com. Nebraska Athletic Department. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  28. "Tagge sparks Nebraska to 36-12 victory over WF". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. September 13, 1970. p. 8, sports.
  29. "Memorial Stadium Records". Huskers.com. November 15, 2010. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
  30. "The Longest Home Winning Streaks in College Football History". 2019-04-19. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  31. Stovall, Gabriel (November 16, 2000). "Memorial Stadium will host high school football championships". The Daily Nebraskan. Retrieved August 2, 2016.



На других языках


[de] Memorial Stadium (Lincoln)

Das Memorial Stadium ist ein Football-Stadion auf dem Campus der University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) in Lincoln, Nebraska. Es dient als Austragungsort für die Heimspiele des College-Teams Nebraska Cornhuskers, das in der Big Ten Conference spielt. Das Stadion hat eine Zuschauerkapazität von 86.047 und hält den NCAA-Rekord von 375 ausverkauften Spielen in Serie. Die Serie begann 1962 und hält bis heute an.
- [en] Memorial Stadium (Lincoln)



Текст в блоке "Читать" взят с сайта "Википедия" и доступен по лицензии Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike; в отдельных случаях могут действовать дополнительные условия.

Другой контент может иметь иную лицензию. Перед использованием материалов сайта WikiSort.org внимательно изучите правила лицензирования конкретных элементов наполнения сайта.

2019-2025
WikiSort.org - проект по пересортировке и дополнению контента Википедии