In 1940, officials decided to build a new stadium on the west side of Clemson’s campus. Land was cleared and a 20,000 seat stadium was erected at a cost of $125,000. Named Memorial Stadium the Clemson Tigers played their inaugural game at the stadium on September 19, 1942.
By the start of the 1958 season 18,000 seats were added along the sidelines. Two years later, an additional 5,600 seats were constructed at the west end zone. Both of these additions increased the capacity at Memorial Stadium to 53,000. With continuing success and growing fan support upper decks were added in 1978 and 1983 bringing the capacity to over 78,000.
The main lower grandstand is in a horseshoe shape with suites and luxury areas between the lower decks on the upper decks on the north and south stands. The latest addition to Memorial Stadium occurred before the 2006 season. This project, on the west side of the stadium, includes club and general seating, an athletic heritage museum and new locker rooms increasing the seating capacity of Memorial Stadium to 80,301.
The stadium has become known as Death Valley for several reasons. The stadium itself sits in a valley and the university cemetery sits on a hill that once overlooked the field before the construction of the upper decks. Clemson Coach Frank Howard began calling the stadium Death Valley in the 1950s.
Capacity: 60,180; Surface: Fieldturf; Opened: September 6, 1980
Mountaineer Field is the largest non NFL stadium in the Big East Conference. In the late 1970s, West Virginia decided to build a new stadium for their football program as the old Mountaineer Field could not be expanded because of its location.
By 1980, the stadium was complete near the campus and named Mountaineer Field. WVU played their first game at their stadium on September 8, 1960.
The stadium consists of a lower deck that encloses the entire playing field and upper decks on the east and west sides. Throughout the past 25 years, there have been few additions to Mountaineer Field. 18 suites were added in 2004 in the north endzone providing more money for the athletic department. Before the 2007 season the Astroplay was replaced with Fieldturf.
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