The 14 Oldest College Football Stadiums In America

The first college football game in history was played in 1869 when the school that would eventually be dubbed Princeton headed to New Brunswick to face off against Rutgers. College Avenue Gymnasium has since been constructed on the site of that campus, but there are a number of football fields and stadiums that have a history stretching back more than a century.

What are the oldest college football stadiums in the United States?

America is littered with sporting venues that are surrounded by an almost mythical mystique due to how many historic moments have unfolded within their walls. There are plenty of college football stadiums that fall under that umbrella, including more than a few that have really stood the test of time (with the help of the occasional renovation).

I’m limiting this list to FBS programs, but if we were taking every school into consideration, UPenn’s Franklin Field would take the top spot after hosting a game for the first time in 1895 (the Ivy League is also responsible for the second-oldest, as Harvard Stadium was constructed in 1903).

14. The Rose Bowl: 1922

The annual game that The Rose Bowl derives its name from was played for the first time at Pasadena’s Tournament Park in 1902, but organizers eventually realized they needed some more space to work with before commissioning a new venue.

The Rose Bowl hosted its first game on October 28, 1922, and Cal beat USC by a score of 12-0 to hand the latter their only loss in a season where they outscored the rest of their opponents 236-19. However, the Trojans got redemption on New Year’s Day by beating Penn State in the Rose Bowl Game.

13. FirstBank Stadium (Vanderbilt): 1922

Vanderbilt originally played its games on what was renamed “Old Dudley Field” before what became known as New Dudley Field opened for business in 1922 to replace a site that had been used since 1892. The new venue was also a bit of a flex on the school’s part, as its 20,000-person capacity put the one a rival had opened in the state the previous year (which we’ll discuss in a moment) to shame.

However, it’s currently one of the smallest stadiums that any P4 program calls home with a capacity of 41,000, and it is firmly the smallest one of any school in the SEC.

12. Ohio Stadium (Ohio State): 1922

THE Ohio State University beat Vanderbilt to the punch by a week, as the Buckeyes hosted  Ohio Wesleyan University on October 7, 1922 in front of around 25,000 fans..

However, there were more than 72,000 people in attendance when it was officially christened during a 19-0 loss to Michigan a couple of weeks later even though it only had an official capacity of just over 66,000. It is now one of the biggest stadiums—college football or otherwise—in the world, as only Michigan and Penn State boast a larger one.

11. Stanford Stadium: 1921

Stanford Stadium is one of the more interesting entries on this list when you consider it was initially able to hold around 60,000 fans when the Cardinal ushered in a new era when they hosted Cal for The Big Game on November 19, 1921. However, its capacity currently sits at around 50,500.

10. Neyland Stadium (Tennessee): 1921

Vanderbilt’s aforementioned flex came a year after Tennessee debuted what was originally referred to as “Shields–Watkins Field,” a new facility that boasted a single grandstand that could hold 3,200 fans. It’s safe to say it’s come a long way since then, as Neyland Stadium can now accommodate more than 101,000 people.

9. David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium: 1921

The stadium that Kansas initially dedicated to soldiers who lost their lives in World War I had the ability to fit 22,000 fans when it opened in 1921. However, there were only a little more than 5,000 in attendance to watch the Jayhawks beat Kansas State in the first game that was played there on October 29th of that year.

Capacity peaked at over 51,000 at one point, but it’s expected to be closer to 40,000 once ongoing renovations are completed.

8. Husky Stadium (Washington): 1920

The venue that was creatively dubbed “University of Washington Stadium” when it opened in 1920 initially held 30,000 fans. The name was eventually altered to refer to the team’s mascot and has grown to accommodate a little more than 70,000 spectators.

7. Boone Pickens Stadium (Oklahoma State): 1919

While I was doing research for this article, I discovered Kansas likes to boast about having the oldest college football stadium west of the Mississippi River, which would be an interesting claim to fame if it didn’t ignore the fact that Oklahoma State actually has the right to brag about that.

The school was still known as Oklahoma A&M when Lewis Field was relocated to the site where the stadium sits today in 1919, although it was literally just a field until construction began on seating accommodations to house 8,000 fans the following year.

It can now hold around 52,300 and is one of just a handful of P4 schools that have embraced an east-to-west orientation that requires teams to deal with the sun in certain situations.

6. Camp Randall Stadium (Wisconsin): 1917

Wisconsin’s football team started playing on the grounds of Camp Randall, a former Army training camp, toward the end of the 19th century, but the foundation for the stadium that currently sits on that site was first laid in 1917.

It initially held close to 12,000 people, and that number has since ballooned to over 76,000.

5. Vaught–Hemingway Stadium (Ole Miss): 1915

Ole Miss got some federal funding to subsidize the construction of a stadium that could fit 24,000 fans when it opened for business in 1915, and it’s slowly and surely grown in size over the past 90 years en route to reaching its current capacity of 64,038.

If you’re curious, the “Hemingway” in question is not related to the author (an Illinois native who did not go to college) but rather Judge William Hemingway, who graduated from the school in 1889.

4. Nippert Stadium (Cincinnati): 1915

Alex Carson, who served as the de facto athletic director at Cincinnati at the start of the 20th century, hatched a plan to build a football stadium in 1901 but needed to wait close to 15 years for that vision to become a reality.

What became “James Gamble Nippert Memorial Stadium” in 1924 hosted its first game nine years prior, and it’s grown from 12,000 to over 40,000 seats over the past 100 years.

3. Davis Wade Stadium (Mississippi State): 1914

This venue was known as “New Athletic Field” when it hosted its first football game in 1914 and was called Scott Field for 80 years after being rechristened in 1920 before Aflac co-founder and Mississippi State alum Davis Wade got some recognition for his financial contributions to the institution.

It could only hold a few thousand fans during the early days, but that number has grown to over 61,000.

2. Bobby Dodd Stadium (Georgia Tech): 1913

There is some room for debate when it comes to the specific dates for the last two entries on this list, as Georgia Tech started playing games on the site of its current stadium in 1905. However, it was just a patch of grass until bleachers that could host 7,000 people were first erected in 1913 to usher in the birth of a real, actual stadium that can now fit 55,000.

1. Kyle Field (Texas A&M): 1904

This one also comes with a bit of an asterisk, as the stadium that surrounds Kyle Field wasn’t constructed until 1927.

However, it’s home to the plot of turf that Texas A&M alum Edwin Jackson Kyle (who worked as a horticulture professor at the university) donated to the school in 1904 along with some wooden bleachers that were originally able to accommodate around 500 spectators.

Kyle Field can currently fit close to 103,000 fans who help comprise the “12th Man,” and anyone who heads to a game there gets to watch the action unfold on the same spot where it all began.