page_title: Peden Stadium
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Peden Stadium / History
caption_attribution_description: Football &amp; Basketball Facilities Ohio U Football Stadium
context_page_description: Peden Stadium is an American football stadium on the campus of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Situated on the banks of the Hocking River with a seated capacity of 27,000. Peden Stadium has been the home of the Ohio Bobcats football team since 1929 and has often been cited as one of the most picturesque venues in college football. It is the oldest college football venue in the Mid-American Conference and among the oldest in the nation. At suggestion of an alumnus, Michael Massa, Peden Stadium has been designated as an official Ohio Historical site.
context_section_description: The facility, originally known as Ohio Stadium, not to be mistaken for Ohio Stadium in Columbus, was built at a cost of $185,000 and was completed in 1929. The stadium originally sat 12,000 fans with grandstands on each side of the playing field. The first game at the venue featured a 14–0 Bobcats victory over archrival Miami University in front of a sellout crowd. Following the retirement of legendary Ohio football coach Don Peden in 1946, the stadium was renamed Peden Stadium.  It was designed by Osborn Engineering, who designed other sports venues such as Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, and Cleveland Stadium.
  The "Bobcat's Lair" has undergone several modifications through the years. In 1986, the seating capacity was increased to 19,000 with the addition of two new grandstands in the north end zone. Four years later, a five story tower, called the Peden Tower, was added to the stadium's west side. Today, it houses press boxes, game day suites, football offices, athletic training facilities, team meeting rooms, a recruiting lounge, a ticket office, the football locker room, and Ohio Athletics' academic services and compliance departments. In 1999, a new 10,000-square-foot (930 m²) strength and conditioning center called The Carin Center was added to the ground level of Peden Stadium.
  Several other historic events have occurred at the Stadium, including a visit by then President Lyndon B. Johnson, as well as an event which featured a landing by helicopter on the 50-yard line by former President Eisenhower. The stadium has served as a venue for many visiting national collegiate teams including the Big Ten. A bronze life-sized sculpture of an Ohio Bobcat, commissioned by a well known naturalist artist, stands poised at the north of the stadium.
  At the suggestion of Michael A. Massa, an alumnus, Peden Stadium was formally designated an official Ohio Historical Site, and an Ohio Historical Marker was placed at the front of the stadium in August 2010.
caption: Peden Tower, before stadium renovating
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot A80", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2008:06:29 02:34:11", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2036", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4658", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "49/10", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:06:29 02:34:11", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:06:29 02:34:11", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "5", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "133/16", "EXIF ApertureValue": "147/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "147/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "749/32", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1200", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "1600", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "1200", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1844", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "40000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "40000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}