Davis Wade Stadium

Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field
Former names New Athletic Field (1914–1920)
Scott Field (1920–2000)
Location 90 B.S. Hood Drive, Mississippi State, MS 39762[1]
Coordinates 33°27′23″N 88°47′37″W / 33.45639°N 88.79361°W / 33.45639; -88.79361Coordinates: 33°27′23″N 88°47′37″W / 33.45639°N 88.79361°W / 33.45639; -88.79361
Owner Mississippi State University
Operator Mississippi State University
Capacity Unknown (1914–1927)
c. 6,000 (1928–1935)
20,000 (1936–1947)
35,000 (1948–1982)
32,000 (1983–1985)
40,656 (1986–2000)
45,286 (2001)
52,884 (2002)
55,082 (2003–2013)
61,337 (2014–present)[2]
Record attendance 62,945
October 11, 2014 vs Auburn[3]
Surface Prescription Athletic Turf (Tifway 419 Bermuda Grass)
Construction
Opened 1914
Renovated 1928, 1982, 2002, 2014
Expanded 1936, 1948, 1986, 2002, 2014
Construction cost Original Unknown
$15,000 (1928 renovation)
$7.2 million (1986 expansion)
$21 million (2002 renovation)
$75 million (2014 renovation)
Architect Original Unknown
W.P.A (1936 expansion)
Warren, Knight, & Davis, Ltd. Architects (1986 expansion)
Foil Wyatt Architects (2002 expansion)
LPK Architects & 360 Architecture (2014 expansion/renovation)[4]
Tenants
Mississippi State Bulldogs football (NCAA) (1914–present)

Davis Wade Stadium, officially known as Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field, is the home playing venue for the Mississippi State Bulldogs football team. Located in Starkville, Mississippi, the stadium has a capacity of 61,337. Originally constructed in 1914 as New Athletic Field, it is the second-oldest stadium in the Football Bowl Subdivision behind Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd Stadium, and the fourth oldest in all of college football behind Penn's Franklin Field, Harvard Stadium, and Bobby Dodd Stadium.

History

The stadium was built in 1914, as a replacement for Hardy Field,[5] and was called New Athletic Field. The first game it hosted was a Mississippi State win over Marion (Ala.) Military Institute, 54-0, on Oct. 3, 1914.[6] In 1920 the student body adopted a resolution to name the field Scott Field in honor of Don Magruder Scott, an Olympic sprinter and one of the University's football stars from 1915-16.[7] Prior to the 2001 season the stadium was named Davis Wade Stadium in honor of longtime MSU supporter Floyd Davis Wade Sr., co-founder of Aflac, because of a large financial contribution he made toward stadium expansion. The playing surface retained the name Scott Field and the official name of the facility is "Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field".[8]

Renovations and expansions

Davis Wade Expansion 2014

In 1928 permanent seating for 3,000 was built on the west side—the lower level of the current facility's west grandstand. In addition, there were portable stands with a similar capacity bringing the seating total to around 6,000. In 1936, with the use of WPA labor, concrete stands seating 8,000 people were added to the west sidelines and steel bleachers were built on the east sideline and end zones. This brought the total capacity to 20,000. 1948 saw the stadium enlarged once again with the expansion of the west sideline structure and the addition of 12,000 concrete seats and stands in both end zones to bring the total capacity to 35,000. In 1983, the end zone seating was removed, reducing the capacity to 32,000. A 1986 expansion costing $7.2 million, raised without state budget appropriations, added almost 9,000 seats, consisting primarily of a 5,500-seat upper deck as well as permanent lighting and a computerized scoreboard which was replaced in 1997 with a Sony JumboTron. The Frank Turman Fieldhouse received an additional floor to its facility in 1990. Named Leo W. Seal M-Club Centre in honor of Leo W. Seal, Sr., a 2-year letter winner at State, it is a meeting place for the letterman organization, the M-Club.

In 1999, the Turman Fieldhouse underwent numerous changes, including remodeled dressing rooms for both teams, and an all-new recruiting lounge, and the stadium began a $50 million expansion and renovation partially funded by Floyd Davis Wade, Sr.. The expansion was completed in 2002 bringing the total capacity to 55,082, including 50 skyboxes, 1,700 club-level seats and a second upper deck seating 7,000.

In the fall of 2008 construction was completed on an all-new $6.1 million 112 ft (34 m) wide by 48 ft (15 m) tall high-definition video display board in the south end zone above the Leo Seal M-Club Center. The LED video system is the tenth largest high-definition video board in college football. The new board was used for the first time on November 1, 2008, during the Mississippi State Bulldogs vs. Kentucky Wildcats football game. The main video display is complemented with two high definition LED advertising boards on each side of the main board, as well as a high definition LED "ribbon ticker" which spans the width of the structure below the main board. Therefore, the total video board square footage (on one structure) is 6,896 sq. ft.[9] To complement the all-new video system, a new state-of-the-art sound system has been installed by Pro Sound, headquartered in Miami, Florida.[10]

A $75 million expansion, completed in August 2014, increased the capacity of the stadium to 61,337, created new concessions and restrooms, and created a new west side concourse. Part of the expansion included sealing off the north end zone and installing a large high definition video board, similar to the one in the south end zone which replaced the JumboTron that was installed there in 1997.[11] The expansion made Davis-Wade Stadium the largest football stadium in Mississippi.[12]

Attendance records

Davis Wade Stadium on the Mississippi State University campus
Davis Wade Stadium attendance records
Rank Attendance Date Game Result
1 62,945 10-11-2014 #3 Mississippi State 38, #2 Auburn 23
2 62,531 09-13-2015 #25 Mississippi State 19, #14 LSU 21
3 62,435 11-14-2015 #20 Mississippi State 6, #3 Alabama 31
4 62,307 11-01-2014 #1 Mississippi State 17, Arkansas 10
5 62,265 11-28-2015 #23 Mississippi State 27, #19 Ole Miss 38
6 61,889 08-30-2014 Mississippi State 49, Southern Miss 0
7 61,651 10-17-2015 Mississippi State 45, Louisiana Tech 20
8 61,574 09-19-2015 Mississippi State 62, Northwestern State 13
9 61,421 11-08-2014 #1 Mississippi State 45, Tennessee-Martin 16
10 61,168 10-24-2015 Mississippi State 42, Kentucky 16

Traditions

The Junction on a home football game day on the campus of Mississippi State University.

Facts

References

External links

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