Bronco Stadium

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Bronco Stadium

"The Blue"
In 2008 against Hawaii
Location	1400 Bronco Lane, Boise, ID 83725
Coordinates	43°36′10″N 116°11′45″W / 43.60278°N 116.19583°W / 43.60278; -116.19583Coordinates: 43°36′10″N 116°11′45″W / 43.60278°N 116.19583°W / 43.60278; -116.19583
Broke ground	1969
Opened	September 11, 1970
Owner	Boise State University
Operator	Boise State University
Surface	Blue Field Turf
Construction cost	$2.3 million USD
Capacity	33,500 (as of 2009)
Tenants
Boise State Broncos (NCAA) (1970-present) Humanitarian Bowl (NCAA) (1997-present)

Bronco Stadium (also known as "The Blue")^[1] is an outdoor athletic stadium on the campus of Boise State University in Boise, Idaho. Primarily used for football, it is the home field of the BSU Broncos of the Western Athletic Conference. Bronco Stadium is widely known for its blue playing surface, rather than the traditional green surface of most other football fields. Since 1997, the Humanitarian Bowl (called the "MPC Computers Bowl" from 2004-06) has been held at the stadium. It holds the distinction of being the longest-running outdoor bowl game in a cold-weather venue.

Bronco Stadium also serves as a track & field stadium; it has hosted the NCAA track & field championships twice, in 1994 and 1999.^[2]

[edit] Location

The stadium is located at the east end of the university's campus, bordered by Broadway Avenue to the east and the Boise River to the north. The elevation of the playing field is 2695 feet (821 m) above sea level.^[3]

Bronco Stadium is best known for its distinctive blue playing surface, nicknamed the Smurf turf after the fictional blue creatures created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo, and has been the only non-green football playing surface in the NCAA through the 2008 season. In fact, there are only a handful of non-green football playing surfaces in the nation. The others include Barrow High School in Barrow, Alaska, Lovington High School in Lovington, New Mexico, Hidalgo High School in Hidalgo, Texas, and the University of New Haven in West Haven, CT.^[4][5][6] Boise State's blue turf inspired the University of New Haven to install blue turf when they reinstated their football program in 2008.^[7] Chris Berman of ESPN has also called Boise's turf "The Blue Plastic Tundra," a joking reference to "the frozen tundra" of Lambeau Field.

[edit] History

Ground was broken in 1969 to replace the original Bronco Stadium, a small facility built in 1950 for junior college football. The football program upgraded to Division II in 1968 and the new $2.2 million concrete stadium opened in 1970 with a seating capacity of 14,500. The first game at the stadium was on September 11, with a 49-14 victory over Chico State. The original playing field was green Astroturf and was configured in the traditional north-south direction. For its first five seasons, the stadium consisted of two sideline grandstands, the west side having an upper deck and the press box.

Following the 1974 season, an upper deck was added to the east side, adding 5,500 seats as well as symmetry to the stadium. The permanent seating capacity grew to 20,000 for 1975, with up to 2,600 temporary seats available for end zone seating during bigger games. The green astroturf was replaced with the same in 1978 as the Big Sky Conference and the Broncos moved up to the newly formed Division I-AA. The Broncos moved to the Big West Conference and Division I-A in 1996, and the stadium was expanded again. The two-tier grandstands were extended around the corners of the south end zone, raising the permanent seating capacity to 30,000 in 1997.^[8] The latest stadium expansion was completed in time for the 2008 season, with the addition of the Stuekel Sky Club press box, luxury suites, loge boxes, and club seating. In the summer of 2009 1,500 additional bleachers will be added to the South end zone. This expansion increases the stadium's capacity to 33,510.

During its eleventh season, the field was named Lyle Smith Field during the I-AA national championship season of 1980. Ceremonies during halftime of the 14-3 victory over Nevada on November 8 marked the event. It honors Lyle H. Smith, the head coach from 67 and athletic director from 81, overseeing BSU's rise from the junior college ranks to Division I-AA champions in 1980. Smith led Boise, as BJC, to multiple post-season bowls, including the 1958 national junior college championship, and compiled an overall record of 156-26-8 (.848), which included five undefeated seasons and 16 conference titles. He was also the baseball coach for 17 seasons and served as basketball coach for a season at the school. Smith hired Tony Knap to replace himself as football coach in 1968. ^[9][10]

[edit] Attendance record

Bronco Stadium's current attendance record is 32,412 , achieved on November 28, 2008, against the Fresno State Bulldogs.

[edit] Blue turf

A game on the blue turf in 2008

In 1986, after sixteen seasons of playing on standard green Astroturf, the university installed the bright blue synthetic surface for which Bronco Stadium is often known. It was replaced with the same in 1995, as a part of a two-year major stadium expansion which brought the seating capacity to 30,000 seats, as BSU transitioned to Division I-A status from Division I-AA's Big Sky Conference.

By 1997, the sideline grandstands had been extended to wrap around the corners of the south end zone, along the orange-colored Ed Jacoby Track. Also added were the Allen Noble Hall of Fame Gallery and the Larry and Marianne Williams Plaza to the southwest corner. Both are attached to the Nicholson-Yanke Athletic Center, an original part of the stadium, as is the Fedrizzi Fitness Center Annex (1988/2004) and the Bronco Football Complex (2000). Since the running track is still in use, the end zone seats remain temporary. The blue astroturf was replaced during the summer of 2002 with blue AstroPlay, similar to FieldTurf, a more forgiving synthetic field surface. The AstroPlay field lasted just six seasons and was replaced in the summer of 2008 with a fourth blue field, this time a blue-colored FieldTurf surface.^[11] The blue playing surface, is sometimes humorously referred to as the "smurf turf".

[edit] Blue turf myths

There are many myths about the blue turf. Two of the most prevalent are:

• There is an NCAA rule banning turf colors other than green, but BSU's field is allowed to remain blue under a grandfather clause.
  • The NCAA has no such rule; any school may paint its field any color other than green if it wishes. Though painting the end zones is common, and schools have wide latitude in how to do so, BSU has chosen a non-green color for the field itself.

• Mistaking it for water, birds have flown into the blue turf.
  • This has never been confirmed. In 2007, Broncos coach Chris Petersen claimed to have found a dead duck on the field, though it is unclear whether or not the duck had mistaken the turf for water.^[12]

[edit] Future expansion

As the Boise State football program saw a rise to prominence in the early 2000s, Bronco Stadium became increasingly insufficient. The school completed a new 3-story complex on the stadium's west side, the Stueckle Sky Club (pronounced Stickle), that features levels for a new press box, luxury suites, loge boxes, and club seating (in descending order) and which increased seating capacity to 32,010.

Another plan is to complete the stadium's horseshoe in the south end zone and round the corners in the north end zone leaving the middle open, so the stadium will still have the view of the Boise Foothills. With the additions, Bronco Stadium's capacity is expected to increase to around 50,000. The first of the planned additions, the press box, was approved funding in January 2007. The plans were announced around the time the university announced plans to build a new indoor practice facility.^[13]

The practice facility, the Cavin-Williams Sports Complex, officially opened in February 2006, is located immediately north west of Bronco Stadium. [2]

The press box facility began construction on February 11, 2007, and officially opened on August 27, 2008 with a gala for ticket holders prior to the first game on August 30. [3]

1,500 removal bleachers will be added to the South end zone in the summer of 2009 increasing Bronco Stadium's capacity to 33,510.

[edit] Home dominance

During Boise State's recent streak of conference championships, Bronco Stadium has proved to be a tough place for opponents. As of November 28, 2008, the Broncos are 64-2 at home since the 1999 season with the only losses being to Washington State in 2001 and AP #18 Boston College in the 2005 MPC Computers Bowl. The Broncos have not lost a home conference game since the season finale in 1998 (38 in a row). The Broncos are 61-1 in regular season home games since 1999. The Broncos are currently on a 49 game regular season home winning streak.

[edit] References

BSU gameday program - Boise State vs. Nevada, Reno - 08-Nov-1980 - A Tribute to Lyle Smith, p.8

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bronco Stadium

• Bronco Sports.com - History of Bronco Stadium
• World Stadiums.com - Bronco Stadium
• Terraserver.microsoft.com - Aerial photo (1998) & USGS topo map - Boise State University campus