page_title: Notre Dame Stadium
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Notre Dame Stadium / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Panorama of the football field at Notre Dame Stadium
context_page_description: Notre Dame Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana, the home field of the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Located on the university's campus, it also hosts commencement.
  Opened 89 years ago in 1930, the stadium seating capacity was nearly 60,000 for decades. More than 21,000 seats were added for the 1997 season, which increased the capacity to over 80,000. After the Campus Crossroads renovation, the seat number decreased to 77,622. The playing surface was changed to artificial turf in 2014, after 84 seasons on natural grass.
  The playing field has a conventional north–south alignment at an approximate elevation of 730 feet above sea level.
context_section_description: Replacing Cartier Field, the stadium opened its gates on October 4, 1930, with a win over SMU. The total cost of construction exceeded $750,000 and the original seating capacity was 54,000. Head coach Knute Rockne played a key role in its design, keeping the space between the playing field and the stands to a minimum. It is patterned, on a smaller scale, after Michigan Stadium, the main difference being the tunnel location. In 1929, plans were started by Osborn Engineering of Cleveland, selected for their experience in designing Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park. The original stadium seated 59,075, measured a half-mile (800 m) in circumference, stood 45 feet (14 m) high, and featured a glass-enclosed press box rising 60 feet (18 m) above ground level. Initial stands reached 55 rows.
  Sollitt Construction Company of South Bend was the general contractor, and earth preparation began in the fall of 1929. Due to an unusually cold fall and winter, above-ground construction did not begin until April 2, 1930, so it was effectively built in six months. Over two million bricks were used in the construction of the walls and the concrete was placed in a monolithic continuous placement by section.  There were over 300 workers on the site at most times and they worked five 10-hour days and one six-hour day on Saturdays. The average worker was paid $1 a day plus lunch with the more skilled workers earning up to $5 a day.
  The construction of the stadium project was brought to a head by the actions of Rockne. The 1928 season had not been a stellar one at 5–4, but the net profits for that football season approached $500,000.  Rockne was frustrated with the slow and cautious Holy Cross priests and their decision making process about spending money on the new stadium.  He could not believe that a decision could not be made when there was such a large amount of money in the bank.  Because of this and a number of other issues, Rockne submitted his resignation to Father O’Donnell, the president of the university.  O’Donnell knew of Rockne's history of submitting his resignations and he also suspected that nothing would fully satisfy Rockne.
  O’Donnell was willing to find a compromise but was also unwilling to put the university in debt to finance the stadium.  He knew that the excess receipts from 1928 season and the projected receipts from playing all the away games in 1929 on neutral fields would bring adequate cash into the university to finance the construction of the stadium.  O’Donnell also devised the scheme to finance 240 six-person “reserved box seats”.  This precursor of the personal seat license would allow the buyer to purchase tickets at face value and guarantee the same prime location for ten years for an investment of $3,000 between the 45-yard lines, $2,500 between the 45 and 35-yard line and $2,000 between the 35 and the 25-yard line.  The university raised over $150,000 on this idea alone.
  The Irish played their first game in the new stadium in 1930 on October 4, and defeated SMU 20–14. The first Notre Dame touchdown in the stadium was scored by "Jumping Joe" Savoldi on a 98-yard kickoff return. The official dedication was a week later on October 11 against Navy, and Savoldi scored three touchdowns and was cited as "the first hero in the lore of Notre Dame Stadium."
  As originally built, the seating capacity was 54,000, but could hold as many as 61,000 with additional temporary bleachers. By 1966, its capacity increased to 59,075, mainly by reducing the average seat width from 18 to 17 inches (45.7 to 43.2 cm). In 1997, 21,000 new seats were added to the stadium, bringing the seating capacity to 80,795. The playing surface had always been natural grass through 2013, but it was announced on April 12, 2014, that after the commencement weekend, the playing field would be replaced with an infilled artificial turf. Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, in making the announcement, cited recent difficulties with maintaining an acceptable grass surface, and added that the change would allow the stadium to be used for football pract
caption: Notre Dame Stadium Panorama
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