Soldier's Field
| "Stadium in a Park" | |
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|
 Soldier Field in 2006
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| Former names | Municipal Grant Park Stadium (1924–1925) |
|---|---|
| Address | 1410 S Museum Campus Drive |
| Location | Chicago, Illinois |
| Coordinates | 41°51′45″N 87°37′0″W / 41.86250°N 87.61667°WCoordinates: 41°51′45″N 87°37′0″W / 41.86250°N 87.61667°W |
| Public transit |
Museum Campus/11th Street (Metra station) 18th Street (Metra station) |
| Owner | City of Chicago |
| Operator | SMG |
| Executive suites | 133 |
| Capacity | 66,944 (1994) 61,500 (2003) |
| Acreage | 7 acres (2.8 ha) |
| Surface |
Kentucky Bluegrass (1924–1970, 1988–present) AstroTurf (1971–1987) |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | August 11, 1922 |
| Opened | October 9, 1924 93 years ago |
| Renovated | 2002–2003 |
| Closed | January 19, 2002 – September 26, 2003 (renovations) |
| Construction cost | US$13 million (original) ($182 million in 2015 dollars) $632 million (2001–2003 renovation) Renovations: ($823 million in 2015 dollars) |
| Architect |
Holabird & Roche Wood + Zapata, Inc. Lohan Caprile Goettsch Architects |
| Project manager | Hoffman Associates |
| Structural engineer | Thornton Tomasetti |
| Services engineer | Ellerbe Becket |
| General contractor | Turner/Barton Malow/Kenny |
| Tenants | |
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Notre Dame Fighting Irish football (NCAA) (1929) Chicago Rockets/Hornets (AAFC) (1946–1949) Chicago Cardinals (NFL) (1959) UIC Chikas football (NCAA) (1966)–1973) Chicago Spurs (NPSL) (1967) Chicago Owls (CFL) (1968–1969) Chicago Bears (NFL) (1971–2001, 2003–present) Chicago Sting (NASL) (1975–1976) Chicago Fire (WFL) (1974) Chicago Winds (WFL) (1975) Chicago Blitz (USFL) (1983–1984) Chicago Fire (MLS) (1998–2001, 2003–2005) Chicago Enforcers (XFL) (2001) |
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| Designated | 1987 |
| Delisted | 2006 |
Soldier Field is an American football stadium located in the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois. It opened in 1924 and is the home field of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL), who moved there in 1971.
The stadium's interior was mostly demolished and rebuilt as part of a major renovation project in 2002, which modernized the facility and lowered seating capacity, but also caused it to be delisted as a National Historic Landmark. Soldier Field has served as the home venue for a number of other sports teams in its history, including the Chicago Cardinals of the NFL, University of Notre Dame football, and the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer, as well as games from the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, and multiple CONCACAF Gold Cup championships. With a football capacity of 61,500, it is the third-smallest stadium in the NFL.
In 2016, Soldier Field became the second-oldest stadium in the league when the Los Angeles Rams began playing temporarily at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which opened a year earlier than Soldier Field.
Soldier Field was designed in 1919 and opened on October 9, 1924, as Municipal Grant Park Stadium. The name was changed to Soldier Field on November 11, 1925, as a memorial to U.S. soldiers who had died in combat. Its formal dedication as Soldier Field was on Saturday, November 27, 1926, during the 29th annual playing of the Army–Navy Game. Its design is in the Neoclassical style, with Doric columns rising above the East and West entrances. The stadium cost $13 million to construct ($182 million in 2015 dollars), a very large sum for a sporting venue at that time (in comparison, L.A. Memorial Coliseum had cost less than $1 million in 1923 dollars).
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