Camp Randall Stadium
| "The Red" | |
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| Location | 1440 Monroe Street University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 43°4′12″N 89°24′46″W / 43.07000°N 89.41278°WCoordinates: 43°4′12″N 89°24′46″W / 43.07000°N 89.41278°W |
| Owner | University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| Operator | University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| Capacity | 80,321 (2005–present) 82,123 (2004) 76,634 (2001–2003) 76,129 (1994–2000) 77,745 (1989–1993) 76,293 (1987–1988) 77,280 (1966–1986) 63,425 (1958–1965) 52,788 (1955–1957) 52,819 (1953–1954) 51,000 (1951–1952) 45,000 (1940–1950) 38,293 (1926–1939) 29,783 (1921–1925) 20,000 (1920) 11,900 (1917–1919) |
| Surface |
FieldTurf (2003–present) AstroTurf (1968–2002) Natural grass (1917–1967) |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1917 |
| Opened | November 3, 1917 100 years ago |
| Renovated | 2004 |
| Expanded | 1921, 1924, 1940, 1951, 1958, 1966, 2004 |
| Construction cost | $15,000 ($280 thousand in 2017 dollars) |
| Architect | Arthur Peabody Bernes-Schobler Associates, Inc. (2005 renovation) |
| Tenants | |
| Wisconsin Badgers (NCAA) (1917–present) | |
Camp Randall Stadium is an outdoor stadium in Madison, Wisconsin, located on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus. It has been the home of Wisconsin Badgers football since 1895, with a fully functioning stadium since 1917. The oldest and fifth largest stadium in the Big Ten Conference, Camp Randall is the 41st largest stadium in the world, with a seating capacity of 80,321.
The stadium lies on the grounds of Camp Randall, a former Union Army training camp during the Civil War. The camp was named after then Governor Alexander Randall, who later became Postmaster General of the United States.
After an outcry from veterans over plans to turn the site into building lots, the state bought it in 1893 and presented it to the university. Soon afterward, it was pressed into service as an athletic ground. It was originally used by the track and field team before the football and baseball teams moved there in 1895. However, the wooden bleachers were very difficult to maintain, and a portion of them were actually condemned as unsafe in 1914. The university then asked for $40,000 to build a concrete-and-steel stadium, but only got half of the original request. However, after three sections of bleachers collapsed during a 1915 game, the state readily granted the additional money. The new stadium opened for the first time on October 6, 1917. It consisted of 7,500 concrete seats—roughly corresponding to the lower portion of the current stadium's east grandstand—and 3,000 wooden seats from the old field.
After the wooden seats burned down in 1922, more permanent seats were added in stages until it consisted of a horseshoe opening to the south, with a running track around the field. The stadium was renovated at various points to raise the size of the horseshoe by nearly doubling the number of rows around the stadium in stages, placing south stands in front of the Wisconsin Field House (built in 1930), the removal of the track and addition of nearly 11,000 seats in 1958, the addition of the upper deck in 1966, and finally the 2005 addition of boxes along the eastern rim of the stadium.
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