Clemens Stadium
| "The Natural Bowl" | |
 |
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| Former names | Saint John's Field (1908-32) Saint John's Stadium (1933-96) Clemens Stadium (1997-present) |
|---|---|
| Location | Collegeville, MN 56321 |
| Owner | Saint John's University |
| Operator | Saint John's University |
| Capacity | Official: 7,482 (since 2007) Record: 17,327 (All-time NCAA Division III attendance record) vs. St. Thomas, September 26, 2015 |
| Surface | SprinTurf |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1908 |
| Architect | Sam Chute (1908) Ellerbe Becket (1997 renovation) |
| Tenants | |
| Saint John's University (NCAA) Saint John's Preparatory School (MSHSL) |
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Clemens Stadium is a football stadium located in Collegeville, Minnesota. The stadium serves as the host stadium to Saint John's University football, track and field teams and other intramural activities. Saint John's Preparatory School's football and track and field teams also use Clemens Stadium as their home facility.
Popularly referred to as "The Natural Bowl," Clemens Stadium was named one of ten Sports Illustrated "College Football Dream Destinations" in 1999 for its natural beauty and large crowds.
Clemens Stadium is built into a horseshoe-shaped hillside, surrounded on three sides by many trees, thus giving the stadium its natural beauty and nickname. The hills not built over with concrete or metal stands are almost always occupied with fans who bring blankets to sit on. Because of the hillsides and other space inside the stadium, Saint John's can fit more than double the number of people than official capacity allows.
The unique, natural bowl configuration of Clemens Stadium is actually the result of artificial design. The bowl was shaped by Saint John's monks who were building brick structures in the 1860s and 1870s. Clay in the soil northeast of campus was dug out of a hill and fired in a nearby kiln to produce bricks for the new Abbey Church (now Great Hall) and Quadrangle. After the buildings were completed, the chasm was filled with water and used as a cranberry bog for the monastery, university and preparatory school.
As athletics gained popularity among colleges across the United States, Saint John's was in need of an adequate field for football. The cranberry bog was drained and in 1908 the new field was ready for football. The field however was not large enough for a regulation-size football field and in 1922 the field expanded to the north to alleviate the problem.
In 1933, the first concrete stands were completed. The black metal tube railing, located on the southwest hill, still remains from this original construction. Six years later, an arched stadium entrance, ticket booth, two stairways and circular field entrance were built using fieldstone. The circular field entrance was inspired by Syracuse's Archbold Stadium. The two stairways and the southwest half of the circular field entrance remain today.
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