Capacity: 107,501; Surface: Fieldturf; Opened: Oct. 1, 1927; Nickname: The Big House
Prior to playing at Michigan Stadium, the Wolverines played at Ferry Field. The team had been playing there since 1906 and continually had to expand the stadium as interest in the team grew.
As attendance grew, a new stadium was needed to accommodate the fans.
Fielding Yost, coach of the football team, designed a new stadium, and the University of Michigan approved construction in April 1926. Built at a cost of $950,000, Michigan Stadium was modeled after the Yale Bowl and was built of steel and concrete. When completed, the stadium could seat nearly 72,000 fans. Yost designed the stadium so it could be expanded to seat up to 200,000 fans one day.
The Michigan Wolverines played their inaugural first game at Michigan Stadium on Oct. 1, 1927 against Ohio Wesleyan. The entire single-tier grandstand circled the playing field. The official capacity when Michigan Stadium when it opened was 84,401, an enormous number for this time. It was the largest stadium in the nation in 1927. However, as support for the team grew, so did the stadium.
By 1928, the capacity was increased to 85,753. In 1930, new electronic scoreboards were added at each end zone. Michigan Stadium was expanded yet again by the 1949 season, when the stadium was expanded to seat 97,239 fans. In 1956, a new press box was constructed that increased the seating capacity over 100,000 to 101,001.
For nearly 200 games, the Wolverines have attracted more than 100,000 fans and hosted 111,238 fans in a game against Michigan State on Nov. 20, 1999. In May 2006, the Michigan Board of Regents voted to construct new luxury boxes and renovate Michigan Stadium.
This $226 million renovation will be completed by the 2010 season and include 83 suites, 3,200 club seats and widen seats and aisles, increasing the seating capacity to 108,000 making it once again the largest stadium in the country.
5. Notre Dame Stadium, University of Notre Dame
Capacity: 80,795; Surface: Grass; Opened: Oct. 4, 1930; Nickname: The House that Rockne Built
Prior to the building of Notre Dame Stadium, Cartier Field, a 30,000-seat stadium, was home to the football team. Because of the team's continued success, games regularly sold out.
Led by the success of coach Knute Rockne, he decided that a new stadium needed to be built for the Fighting Irish. By the mid to late 1920s, plans were drawn up for a new stadium at Notre Dame.
Constructed at a cost of $750,000, construction began in late 1929. Patterned after Michigan Stadium, Notre Dame Stadium was completed by October 1930.
The Fighting Irish played their first game at Notre Dame Stadium on Oct. 4, 1930 against Southern Methodist University. The stadium originally had a capacity of 54,000, and throughout its more than seven decades of existence, Notre Dame Stadium has seen only one main addition. Prior to the 1997 season, the stadium w
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