Nicknamed "the Rock," Memorial Stadium
has been the home of the Hoosiers for a half a century. In
the late 1950s, Indiana University decided to build a new football
stadium to replace the old Memorial Stadium where the Hoosiers had
played since 1925. A new stadium was constructed and
completed in 1960. The Indiana Hoosiers christened Memorial Stadium on
October 8, 1960 playing Michigan State. At a cost of $4.5
million the stadium originally had a capacity of 48,000.
Throughout the past five decades
Memorial Stadium has changed little. In 1986, $4 million was
spent renovating and improving the stadium. Two years later the
Hoosiers played football under lights
for the first time in their history at Memorial Stadium. Prior to the
start of the 1990 season, new scoreboards were placed at each end
zone. After having an Astroturf playing surface for several decades the team decided to install a natural grass playing
field prior to the 1998 season. However, five years later the
team
decided to remove the grass field and replace it with AstroPlay a new
type of Astroturf. It has since been replaced with Fieldturf. The latest renovation occurred before the 2003
season when the press box was renovated. Nearly 300 clubs seats and
nine luxury suites were added along with the President’s suite being
renovated. Today, Memorial Stadium has a seating capacity of 52,000
with single tier grandstands on both sides of the gridiron. Additional
seating is located at both end zones in front of the scoreboards. In
September 2006, Indiana University announced plans to expand Memorial
Stadium. This expansion project was completed in 2009 and enclosed
the north endzone increasing the seating capacity to 53,500. A Hall of
Champions and an athletic facility was constructed as part of this
project.
Memorial
Stadium
