Home of the Governors | |
Former names | Municipal Stadium Governors Stadium |
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Location | 681 Summer Street Clarksville, TN 37040 |
Owner | Austin Peay State University |
Operator | Austin Peay State University |
Capacity | 10,000 |
Surface | Mega Grass |
Opened | 1946 (Reopened 2015) |
Tenants | |
Austin Peay State University Football (NCAA) (1946–present) |
Fortera Stadium in Clarksville, Tennessee. It opened in 1946 and is home to the Austin Peay State University Governors football team.
Clarksville Municipal Stadium, as it was originally known, was constructed by the city of Clarksville in 1946. The city permitted Austin Peay to use the stadium for an annual sum which was thought to be the actual cost to the city. The city maintained its ownership and operation of the Municipal Stadium until 1970. In that year, as a result of a cooperative agreement between Austin Peay, the county officials and the city officials, the city conveyed title to one-third of the stadium to the State of Tennessee for the university. The other one-third went to Montgomery County.
Austin Peay, Montgomery County, and the city of Clarksville were authorized to appropriate funds to the newly created Stadium Authority for constructing, remodeling and operating the stadium. The members of the Stadium Authority were to be appointed by the county and by the university.
Austin Peay agreed to purchase Municipal Stadium from the Stadium Authority. As a result, Stadia Turf replaced the AstroTurf which had been placed by the Stadium Authority. The playing surface was changed again in 2004, when Polytan surfaces were installed on the football field (Mega Grass) and track (Polytan WSS 15).
In August 2012, the Tennessee state government approved plans for a major stadium renovation. After the 2013 season, the west (home) side of the stadium was demolished and replaced with a new structure that includes luxury boxes and a training facility. The field and the surrounding track were also be replaced; the east (visitor's) side remains largely intact. The renovated stadium reopened for the 2014 season.
In April 2014 a small sinkhole opened up at a point between the football field and the track. On May 19, the school started repair work on the sinkhole, which necessitated digging a hole 40 feet (12 m) wide by 40 feet deep to find stable bedrock. School officials were quoted as saying that they expect repairs to solve the problem, and that they had budgeted for sinkhole issues.
Governors Stadium opened the 2014 season following the completion of a massive $16.9 million renovation that replaced the west side grandstands with a new structure that includes state-of-the-art amenities for student-athletes, coaches and fans as well as skyboxes, club-type seating and new chairback seating.