Vanderbilt Stadium Vanderbilt Stadium at Dudley Field is a football stadium located in Nashville , Tennessee . Completed in 1922 as the first stadium in the South to be used exclusively for college football , it is the home of the Vanderbilt University football team . Vanderbilt Stadium hosted the Tennessee Oilers and the first Music City Bowl in 1998 and also hosted the Tennessee state high school football championships for many years . It is the smallest football stadium in the Southeastern Conference . History . Old Dudley Field . Vanderbilt football began in 1892 , and for thirty years , Commodore football teams played on the northeast corner of campus where Wilson Hall , Kissam Quandrangle , and a portion of the Vanderbilt University Law School now stand , adjacent to today ' s Twenty - First Avenue South . The first facility was named for William Dudley , Dean of the Vanderbilt University Medical School from 1885 until his death in 1914 . Dudley was responsible for the formation of the SIAA , the predecessor of the Southern Conference and Southeastern Conference , in 1895 , and was also instrumental in the formation of the NCAA in 1906 . Old Dudley was the site where legendary head coach Dan McGugin led Vanderbilt to both of its football national championships ( Billingsley National title ) , in 1906 and 1911 . In 1922 , after a 0 . 742 winning percentage during the eighteen - year tenure of Coach McGugin , the Commodores had outgrown old Dudley Field . It was time for a new stadium . New Dudley Field . There was not enough room to expand old Dudley Field at its site near Kirkland Hall , so Vanderbilt administrators purchased land adjacent to what is today Twenty - Fifth Avenue South , on the west side of campus , for the new facility . The new stadium , the first in the South built solely for football , was christened " Dudley Field , " and its capacity was 20 , 000 . The old field was re - christened Curry Field , in honor of Irby " Rabbit " Curry , a standout football player from 1914 – 16 , who left Vanderbilt to serve in the American Expeditionary Force to Europe in World War I . Curry had been killed while flying a combat mission over France in 1918 . The first game played at Dudley Field was between the home - standing Commodores and the powerful Michigan Wolverines . A late 4th quarter goal - line stand by the Commodores preserved a 0 - 0 tie . The following Friday , nearby Hume - Fogg High School played a game at Dudley . Senior Jimmie Armistead returned the opening kick for a touchdown , providing the first touchdown ever recorded in the stadium . Armistead would go on to a successful career at Vanderbilt and was the captain and starting halfback for the 1927 team . In 1949 , Vanderbilt officials built a modern press box at Dudley Field , replacing a platform that had been used prior to that . Additional seating was also added to the western side of stadium , boosting capacity to 27 , 901 . On September 25 , 1954 , Vanderbilt hosted the No . 10 - ranked Baylor Bears in the first night game ever played on the Dudley Field surface . The lights had been installed so that Dudley Field , Nashville ' s largest outdoor venue at the time , would be able to host the Billy Graham Crusade on campus . In 1960 , nearly 7 , 000 more seats are added to the stadium , with an expansion on the east side of the stadium near Memorial Gym . Capacity jumped to 34 , 000 . At a price of $ 250 , 000 , officials installed what was then a state - of - the - art Astroturf synthetic surface to Dudley Field in 1970 . Vanderbilt Stadium . Battleship gray . Over the winter and spring of 1980 – 81 , most of the Dudley Field stadium was demolished , with the remaining stands on each sideline raised ten feet through the use of 22 hydraulic jacks on each side of the stadium . However , the playing surface is still called Dudley Field . The stadium ' s maximum capacity after the 1980 – 81 renovation was 41 , 448 , consisting of a single - decked horseshoe grandstand filled in with wooden bleachers from the original 1960 expansion . The project cost $ 10 . 1 million , and the Commodores celebrated a sold - out dedication by taking a 23 – 17 comeback win over Maryland on September 12 , 1981 . The new stadium and its Fred Russell Press Box ( named for Vanderbilt alumnus , former football player , and sports journalist Fred Russell ) , recalling Vanderbilt ' s naval themed - mascot the Commodore , were designed to resemble a United States naval vessel slicing through the water , and the color - scheme picked for the exterior of the stadium was battleship gray . To enhance the gameday experience , officials added a Jumbotron video screen in the north end zone , adjacent to Kensington Place , in advance of the Tennessee Oilers playing their 1998 home games in the facility . The stadium served as Nashville ' s main outdoor stadium until the completion of what is now LP Field in 1999 , when the Oilers — now the Titans — moved to their brand - new facility . The same year , in 1999 , the playing surface was returned to grass , and Vanderbilt officials removed an aging bleacher section — from the 1960 renovation — from the north end zone , lowering capacity to 39 , 773 , 2003 . The bleachers from the north end zone were replaced them with a visitors ' concourse that affords any fan in the stadium a field - level , up - close experience with the playing surface . The metal frames for the bleachers were relocated to Mt . Juliet Christian School ' s football facility in suburban Nashville . After nearby Hawkins Field , Vanderbilt ' s baseball stadium , was constructed in a classic brick - and - iron style in 2002 , Vanderbilt administrators began to look at giving Vanderbilt Stadium a similar flavor . They also began to consider the construction of a football facility in place of the present concourse and JumboTron in the north end zone . 2012 season . Vanderbilt vice chancellor of athletics David Williams announced on February 6 , 2012 Vanderbilt will be adding new FieldTurf and a new JumboTron . A large “ berm ” is to be constructed in the open end of Vanderbilt Stadium as a place for fans to watch games starting fall 2012 . The project , in addition to other renovations , began after the Black & Gold scrimmage on April 14 , 2012 . . Only 500 seats are available , the hillside is a first come , first serve area in terms of picking a spot to sit . The berm will not reach the permanent seating on the sidelines to leave space in the corners of the end zone for fans to enter . The fourth major project set for the stadium is improved lighting . Renovations are ongoing at McGugin Center , new meeting rooms and Olympic sport locker rooms are being built . The work is due for completion summer 2012 . Brick - and - iron . On July 24 , 2007 , Vanderbilt officials announced they were in the preliminary stages of a stadium renovation plan , with financing , design concept , and date of completion yet to be determined . Nine months later , on May 20 , 2008 , Vice Chancellor David Williams II announced , in a McGugin Center press conference , that the University was beginning a five - phased , multi - million dollar program of renovations to Vanderbilt athletics facilities , including extensive renovations and additions to Vanderbilt Stadium . Under the plan announced by Williams , Vanderbilt Stadium will be modified ( in the first four phases ) as follows : NFL use . Upon moving to Tennessee , the Oilers / Titans franchise initially played at the larger Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis while LP Field ( then called Adelphia Coliseum ) was under construction , with the intention of building up a statewide fan - base . Dismal attendance during the 1997 season , due in part to the unwillingness of many Nashville fans to make the trip to Memphis , and Memphis fans unwilling to support the Nashville team after years of failing to secure their own NFL franchise , led the team to decide to play the 1998 season at the smaller Vanderbilt Stadium , even though Vanderbilt refused to allow the sale of alcohol at the NFL games . Non - sporting events . Over its history , Vanderbilt Stadium has occasionally been used for concerts and major speakers . Those events include :