Located in Champaign, IL,
Memorial Stadium has been the home of the Illinois Fighting Illini for
more than eight decades. Prior to its opening in 1923, the Fighting
Illini played at Illinois Field. This stadium became to small and by
1923 contributions of nearly $1.7 million were made to the
University of Illinois in order to build a new stadium, to honor men
and women who fought during World War I, and later World War II. Named
Memorial Stadium, it was completed by November 3, 1923 when Illinois
beat Chicago.
Throughout it’s nearly eight decades
of existence Memorial Stadium has underwent numerous improvement and
additions. Today, the stadium has a capacity of just over 65,143. The
stadium consists of two tiers of bleachers. The lower level forms a
horseshoe, and there is an upper deck on both sides of the field. The
press box is located on top of the west side upper deck. A huge 23
foot by 34 foot scoreboard is located at the west end of the stadium.
Originally, Memorial Stadium had a grass field, but in 1974 the grass
was replaced with Astroturf. Today, Memorial Stadium continues to be
the home of the University of Illinois Fighting Illini. Like many
other colleges, Illinois has replaced the Astroturf field with Fieldturf. It was the
home of the Chicago Bears for one season in 2002 as Soldier Field was
renovated. After the 2006 season work began on a $116 million
expansion project to Memorial Stadium.
Completed by the 2008 season, this
expansion and renovation project included the construction of a new
pressbox and luxury suite area on the west side, 10,000 seats on the
north side, connecting the south endzone to the east and west
grandstands, renovating the concourses and moving the main
video/scoreboard to the south endzone.
Famous Players:
Red Grange,
George Halas,
Dick Butkus,
Ray Nitschke, Jeff George, Kevin Hardy, Dana Howard,
Simeon Rice School Traditions: Marching Illini, Chief
Illiniweck
-8/30 - at Missouri
-9/6 - EASTERN ILLINOIS
-9/13 - LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE
-9/27 - at Penn State
-10/4 - at Michigan
-10/11 - MINNESOTA
-10/18 - INDIANA
-10/25 - at Wisconsin
-11/1 - IOWA
-11/8 - at Western Michigan
-11/15 - OHIO STATE
-11/22 - at Northwestern
Memorial
Stadium
