Scott Field, the second oldest
college football stadium in Division 1-A football, has been the home of
the Mississippi State Bulldogs for more than nine decades. In 1914, a
new stadium for the football program was constructed to replace Hardy
Field. Originally, Scott Stadium was a relatively small stadium with a
seating capacity less than 20,000. It was named after Don M. Scott, an Olympic sprinter and one of the first football stars for the
Bulldogs. Two expansions occurred at the stadium during the first half
of the 20th century. Additions occurred in 1936 and 1945 when
the seating capacity was increased to 35,000. For the next three
decades, little changed at Scott Field. Before the 1983 season, the
seating in the endzone was removed decreasing the capacity to 32,000.
The first addition in more than four decades was completed prior to
the 1986 season. A $7.2 million expansion project including increasing
the stadium by nearly 9,000 seats was completed. This included the
upper deck and sections of seating on both sides of the east side. A
new video/scoreboard was added to the stadium prior to the 1997 season
on the north side. In 2002, donor, Floyd Davis Wade, helped fund a $30 million project
that included the addition of
7,000 seats in the upper deck, 50 luxury suites and 1,700 club seats.
The stadium was named in honor of Davis and the facility is now known as
Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. Today, Scott Field has a seating capacity of just over 55,000
consisting of double decked grandstands on both sides of the gridiron.
One of the largest HD video/scoreboards, 111 ft. by 47ft., in
college football is located in the north endzone. Additional seating is located in the endzone. Fans attending games at
Scott Field between 1998 and 2000 saw the BullDogs go undefeated as
they won 16 consecutive games.