Davis Wade Stadium
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| Former names | New Athletic Field (1914–1920) Scott Field (1920–2000) |
|---|---|
| Location | 90 BS Hood Drive, Mississippi State, MS 39762 |
| Coordinates | 33°27′23″N 88°47′37″W / 33.45639°N 88.79361°WCoordinates: 33°27′23″N 88°47′37″W / 33.45639°N 88.79361°W |
| 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) |
| Record attendance | 62,945 October 11, 2014 vs Auburn |
| 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) |
| Tenants | |
| Mississippi State Bulldogs football (NCAA) (1914–present) | |
Davis Wade Stadium, officially known as Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field, is a stadium primarily used for American football located in Starkville, Mississippi, United States, on the campus of Mississippi State University. It serves as the home venue for the Mississippi State Bulldogs football team. 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. As of 2016, it has a seating capacity of 61,337 people.
The stadium was built in 1914, as a replacement for Hardy Field, 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. 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. 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".
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.
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