Bryant-Denny Stadium

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bryant-Denny Stadium

Former names	Denny Stadium (1929–1975)
Location	920 Paul W Bryant Drive, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401
Coordinates	33°12′28″N 87°33′2″W / 33.20778°N 87.55056°W / 33.20778; -87.55056Coordinates: 33°12′28″N 87°33′2″W / 33.20778°N 87.55056°W / 33.20778; -87.55056
Broke ground	September 28, 1929
Opened	October 5, 1929
Expanded	1937: East Side Bleachers 1950: 7,000+ seats 1961: 18,000+ seats 1966: 17,000+ seats 1988: West Side Upper Deck 1998: East Side Upper Deck 2006: North Zone & Upper Deck 2010: South Zone & Upper Deck
Owner	University of Alabama
Operator	UA Athletics
Surface	Grass
Architect	Davis Architects
Capacity	92,138
Tenants
Alabama Crimson Tide (NCAA) (1929–present)

Bryant-Denny Stadium, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is the home stadium for the University of Alabama football team. The stadium opened in 1929, and was originally named Denny Stadium, in honor of former Alabama president George Hutchenson Denny. However, the stadium's name was amended to Bryant-Denny Stadium in 1975 after the Alabama legislature chose to honor famed Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant as a partial namesake. It currently has a seating capacity of 92,138, and is the fourth largest stadium in the SEC, the seventh largest on-campus stadium in the nation and the 18th largest stadium by seating in the world. Since their 1988 season, the stadium has sold out every home game.^[1] In February 2009 the University of Alabama board of trustees gave approval to begin stadium expansion of the south endzone,^[2] which would make it the fifth-largest on-campus stadium in the country, the eighth-largest stadium in the world, and the second-largest in the SEC.

[edit] Construction

Serving as a replacement for Denny Field, Denny Stadium opened on September 28, 1929 and was officially dedicated the following week at Homecoming ceremonies against the Ole Miss Rebels, a game the Tide would win 22-7. Originally, the stadium had a capacity of 12,000, though President Denny initially envisioned a full bowl stadium capable of seating 60,000 people.^{[citation needed]} In 1937, the first expansion of the stadium added 6,000 seats along the east sideline to increase the capacity to 18,000. Further expansions in 1950, 1961, and 1966 raised capacity to 25,000, 43,000, and 60,000, respectively. The first upper deck was added on the west side of the stadium in 1988, adding 10,000 more seats for a capacity of 70,123. During the construction, the Tide was forced to play its entire 1987 home schedule at Legion Field, 56 miles (90 km) from campus in Birmingham.

In 1998, a second upper deck was added to the east side of the stadium, raising capacity to 83,818. The new upper deck provided 10,000 additional bleacher seats and eighty-one skyboxes on two levels—sixty-three 16-seat and eighteen 24-seat capacity boxes. In 1999, four additional skyboxes were built to bring total number of skyboxes to 85. Also, a scoreboard with video display capabilities was erected in the south endzone, as well as new light towers for the east side of the stadium. A new east side entrance tower a brick facade and reception areas for the Scholarship and A-Club level patrons was also added during the 1998 expansion.

[edit] North end zone expansion (2006)

The exterior of the north endzone and the Walk of Champions

The north end zone expansion from Denny Chimes on game day.

Following the 2004 football season, the university spent approximately $47 million on an expansion to the North end zone, which was completed days before the 2006 season opener against Hawaii. The expansion added a new upper deck to the North end zone area, complete with three different levels of skyboxes, which collectively are known as "The Zone," which brought the number of skyboxes in the stadium to 123. Two large video screens made by Daktronics were placed in each corner of the North end zone, and 3.5 feet (1.1 m) high and 422 feet (129 m) long LCD ribbon screens were placed along the East and West upper deck facades.

Additions were made to the exterior of the stadium with the Walk of Champions. Included in the Walk of Champions are four bronze statues, one for each Alabama football coach who has led the Tide to a national championship. Each statue has a wall behind it bearing the coach's name and the year(s) he led the team to a national championship. There is an empty space with a blank wall next to the four statues, presumably reserved for the next coach to lead Alabama to a national title. In addition, there are stones laid in the immediate pathway leading to the stadium recognizing all of Alabama's SEC and national championship teams throughout the years. Finally, there are also two bronze statues of Alabama football players at the entrance to the North end zone, and the two statues are holding a large Alabama flag. The player on the left is wearing the number 18, and the player on the right is wearing the number 92. These statues honor the entire Alabama football program, which began in 1892.

The north end zone was opened for the 2006 season opener versus Hawaii, which set a new record attendance of 92,138. The Crimson Tide were victorious, 25–17.^[3]

The interior of Bryant-Denny Stadium (north endzone, right) during an Alabama football game in 2008.

[edit] South end zone expansion (2010)

The University of Alabama Board of Trustees approved a study for further expansion of Bryant-Denny on September 19, 2008.^[4] The Physical Properties Committee of the University of Alabama Board of Trustees heard a presentation from UA athletic department on November 13, 2008 regarding the proposed $80.6 million expansion of the south end zone upper deck and suite level of Bryant-Denny Stadium. The proposed expansion would bring the stadium's capacity to approximately 101,000. The committee unanimously approved the project to move into the third of four stages, the fourth being final approval to begin construction.^[5]

On February 6, 2009 The UA Board of Trustees voted unanimously and without discussion to give the final approval construction to commence on the south end zone expansion. With the approval of the Board of Trustees, construction is set to begin in the Spring of 2009 and will continue through out the 2009 football season. The expansion is currently slated to open by September 2010 for the 2010 college football season.^[6][7]

The Tuscaloosa News reported on April 17, 2009 that due to the economic climate and resultant lowered construction costs, the stadium expansion should cost $15 million less than expected, coming in around $65.6 million. ^[8]

The expanded south end zone will include a two level South Zone club with a total of 1,700 seats and 36 skyboxes to bring the total number of skyboxes in Bryant-Denny Stadium to 159, as well as an 8,500 seat upper deck. The entire stadium's audio/visual system will be upgraded including two new video boards in both corners of the south end zone.^[9]

[edit] Football lore

Throughout its history, the Crimson Tide owns a 187–32–3 all-time record at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Bear Bryant accumulated a 72–2 record while head coach of Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Despite its success at Bryant-Denny, much of Alabama "home" football history occurred at Birmingham's Legion Field. Up until the late 1990s, Legion Field, and not Bryant-Denny, hosted the more important games. Usually, Bryant-Denny hosted about three to four games per season. However, in 1998, when Bryant-Denny was expanded to a capacity exceeding Legion Field, home games started to move to Bryant-Denny. From 1998 to 2003, Bryant-Denny hosted the more important games while Legion Field hosted two or three minor games. Finally, in 2003, Alabama played its final game at Legion Field against the South Florida Bulls, and now Bryant-Denny is the sole home of Alabama football.

However, despite most big games being played at Legion Field, Bryant-Denny Stadium has hosted many memorable games, such as the 1994 shootout between Alabama's Jay Barker and Georgia's Eric Zeier, Marvin Constant's goal line stop against LSU quarterback Josh Booty as time expired in 1999, Tyrone Prothro's reception over the back of Southern Miss defensive back Jasper Faulk in 2005, a 31–3 victory over No. 5 Florida in 2005, the Roman Harper forced fumble against Tennessee in 2005 that helped the Tide to victory, and Alabama's 36-0 shutout victory against Auburn thus breaking the six game losing streak and first ever Iron Bowl victory in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

[edit] Field design

Traditionally speaking, the field design of Bryant-Denny Stadium was much like the field designs of most football stadiums, which generally involved only the necessary field markings required for play. However, as more and more stadiums began to add other designs to the field aside from those required for play, such as logos, Bryant-Denny Stadium chose to remain traditional, having very few field markings. In fact, even on into the 2002 season, Bryant-Denny had no logo at midfield and no logos at the twenty-five yard lines, which are commonplace in many stadiums. The endzones were simply designed as such that the name "ALABAMA" was spelled out in a white, block style font. During the 2002 season, however, a rather large white script A was added to midfield.

The field design underwent full scale changes beginning with the 2004 season. At midfield, the large white script A was replaced with the script A logo, which is encircled by a crimson ring which has "Alabama Crimson Tide" written around it. The endzone designs, too, were changed to a crimson, block style font (though different than the block style font used in the earlier design) that was outlined in white. This field design is still used in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

For the 2006 season, two identical logos commemorating the 175th anniversary of the founding of the University of Alabama were also added to the field on the twenty-five yard lines. One was added on the south end of the stadium, on the west side of the playing field, while the other was on the north end of the stadium, on the east side of the playing field.

For the 2007 season, two identical logos commemorating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Southeastern Conference were added to home field of every Southeastern Conference team. These were in the same places as the 175th logos were during the 2006 season.

For the 2008 season, two identical Southeastern Conference logos were added to the home field of every Southeastern Conference team. These are in the same places as the previous logos.

For the 2009 A-day game, the endzones were changed back to the original white block style font that was used prior to the 2004 season, except the background will be shaded Crimson. The north endzone says "ALABAMA", while the south endzone says "CRIMSON TIDE".^[10]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bryant-Denny Stadium

• Bryant-Denny Stadium page on RollTide.com
• Bryant-Denny Stadium Information Guide
• Photo Gallery of Bryant-Denny Stadium

v • d • e Alabama Crimson Tide Football All-time Record 799–316–43 (.709) Head Coaches Beaumont • Abbott • Wagonhurst • McCants • Martin • Griffin • Harvey • Blount • Leavenworth • Pollard • Lowman • Graves • Kelly • Scott • Wade • Thomas • Drew • Whitworth • Bryant • Perkins • Curry • Stallings • DuBose • Franchione • Price • Shula • Saban (current) Seasons 1892 • 1893 • 1894 • 1895 • 1896 • 1897 • 1898 • 1899 • 1900 • 1901 • 1902 • 1903 • 1904 • 1905 • 1906 • 1907 • 1908 • 1909 • 1910 • 1911 • 1912 • 1913 • 1914 • 1915 • 1916 • 1917 • 1918 • 1919 • 1920 • 1921 • 1922 • 1923 • 1924 • 1925 • 1926 • 1927 • 1928 • 1929 • 1930 • 1931 • 1932 • 1933 • 1934 • 1935 • 1936 • 1937 • 1938 • 1939 • 1940 • 1941 • 1942 • 1943 • 1944 • 1945 • 1946 • 1947 • 1948 • 1949 • 1950 • 1951 • 1952 • 1953 • 1954 • 1955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959 • 1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 • 1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 • 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 Rivalries Iron Bowl • Third Saturday in October • Alabama–LSU rivalry • Alabama–Ole Miss rivalry • Alabama–Mississippi State rivalry National Championships (12) 1925 • 1926 • 1930 • 1934 • 1941 • 1961 • 1964 • 1965 • 1973 • 1978 • 1979 • 1992 Conference Championships (25) 1924 • 1925 • 1926 • 1930 • 1933 • 1934 • 1937 • 1945 • 1953 • 1961 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 • 1981 • 1989 • 1992 • 1999 Stadiums Denny Field • Bryant-Denny Stadium • Legion Field (Birmingham) Culture & Tradition 1926 Rose Bowl • Bear Bryant • Paul W. Bryant Museum • Million Dollar Band • Big Al National Championships: 12 • Conference Championships: 25 • All-Americans: 96

v • d • e The University of Alabama Schools and Colleges College of Arts and Science • Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration • College of Communication and Information Sciences • College of Education • College of Engineering • College of Human Environmental Sciences • Capstone College of Nursing • School of Social Work • School of Law • College of Community Health Sciences • College of Continuing Studies People Julia Tutwiler • Amelia Gayle Gorgas • George Wallace • George H. Denny • Robert E. Witt • Alabama Alumni Places Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library • Gorgas House • Little Round House • Maxwell Hall • Strode House • Denny Chimes • Ferguson Center • University of Alabama Arboretum • UA Moundville Archaeological Park • Paul W. Bryant Museum • Tuscaloosa Athletics Football • Men's Basketball • Baseball • Gymnastics • Softball • Women's Basketball • Golf • Tennis • Soccer • Volleyball • Track & Field Rivalries: Iron Bowl • Third Saturday in October • Alabama–LSU rivalry • Alabama–Ole Miss rivalry Facilities: Bryant-Denny Stadium • Coleman Coliseum • Sewell-Thomas Stadium • Foster Auditorium • Alabama Softball Complex People: Nick Saban • Anthony Grant • Mal Moore • Paul "Bear" Bryant • Joe Namath • Kenny Stabler • Bart Starr Broadcasting Alabama Public Radio • WVUA-CA • WVUA-FM Organizations & Traditions Million Dollar Band • Big Al • The Crimson White • CrimsonRide • Traditions Affiliations University of Alabama System • UAB School of Medicine • Southern Association of Colleges and Schools • Oak Ridge Associated Universities • Southeastern Conference • National Collegiate Athletic Association Endowment: $777.1 million • Students: 27,052 • Faculty: 1,122