Where in the world will you find a 300 pound terrapin? If you guessed at the University of Maryland’s football stadium, you would be correct. Located on the field is a statue of the university’s mascot, Testudo. Before every home game, players touch the statue for good luck. The home of the Terrapins is the second stadium that the team has called home. For more than two decades, the football team played at a 5,000 seat facility that opened in 1923. Due to its small size, the University of Maryland decided to build a new state of the art football complex for the Terrapins in the late 1940s. Constructed in 1950, the new stadium opened on September 30, 1950, when the Terrapins played Navy before a crowd of more than 43,000 fans. The stadium was named after Harry Clifton Byrd, President of the University of Maryland from 1935 to 1954.
When it opened in 1950, Byrd Stadium had a seating capacity of 34,860, but temporary bleachers were often added to accommodate larger crowds. A single tier grandstand in a horseshoe configuration surrounded the playing field. By the late 1980s, Maryland decided to expand Byrd Stadium. After the 1990 season, the Tyson Tower, a five tier building containing the press box and luxury suites, was constructed on the south side of the stadium. By the 1996 season, a 12,000 seat upper deck had been added, increasing the seating capacity to 48,000.
In 2006, a $50 million expansion project was approved to continue improving and expanding Byrd Stadium. Completed before the 2008 season, the project added 60 luxury suites, a 150 seat President’s Deck, 560 covered seats and 2,000 additional seats. In August 2006, the University of Maryland sold the naming rights to Chevy Chase Bank, which was later acquired by Capital One, for $20 million over 25 years. Prior to the start of the 2012 season, the natural grass playing surface was replaced with FieldTurf.
In December 2015, Byrd Stadium was renamed Maryland Stadium following disagreements surrounding the stadium’s association with Harry Clifton Byrd. In 2022, the stadium was renamed SECU Stadium as part of a new naming rights agreement. Today, SECU Stadium remains the home of the Maryland Terrapins and one of the most recognizable college football venues in the region.
