Dowdy – Ficklen Stadium Bagwell Field at Dowdy – Ficklen Stadium is the on - campus football facility for the East Carolina Pirates in Greenville , North Carolina . The official capacity of the stadium is 50 , 000 , making it the third largest college stadium in North Carolina . The record attendance for the stadium was on October 1 , 2011 against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with 50 , 610 in attendance . The stadium is also the site of Spring Commencement exercises for the University . History . Original construction . The initiative to build a new stadium was announced on October 7 , 1961 . On that day , President Leo Jenkins announced to a meeting of boosters , that a new stadium will be built to replace College Stadium . By 1962 , over $ 280 , 000 was raised and Ficklen Memorial Stadium was built . The stadium was named for James Skinner Ficklen , the owner of Greenville ’ s E . B . Skinner Tobacco Company . Skinner was a booster of the college , and established a scholarship fund in his name . The original stadium included permanent stands on the south side , a press box , and a lighting system . Ficklen Memorial Stadium opened on September 21 , 1963 with a win against Wake Forest . The original seating capacity was 10 , 000 . Early expansions . The north side permanent seating was constructed in 1967 and 1968 , increasing the capacity of the stadium to 20 , 000 . The seats were designed by W . M . Freeman Associates from High Point , North Carolina . The exterior of the stadium was painted in 1970 by F . A . Miller Company . The lighting system was the next item that changed . The original lighting system was replaced with six towers outside of the stadium in 1975 . The cost of the new lighting system was $ 450 , 000 . L . E . Wooten company built the lighting system . The next addition occurred two years later . The university added seats to the four corners increased the seating capacity to 35 , 000 . This addition made Ficklen Memorial Stadium the third largest stadium in North Carolina . The expansion was funded by a 2 . 5 million drive in the spring of 1977 . The three - story press box which is currently in use was built during that expansion . The press box had space for 92 writers and an entire floor for electronic media . Lastly , scoreboard with a lightbank message center was placed on the east end of the stadium . The playing surface was redone in 1983 . A new drainage system , new base of gravel and sand , new treated topsoil , and a new grass — Tifton 419 Hybrid Bermuda were all installed . A new sound system was built in 1988 . 1990s expansions . In 1991 , $ 1 . 6 million in renovations and repairs was done to the stadium . Ronald and Mary Ellen Dowdy of Orlando , Florida , donated one million dollars during a fund - raising drive in 1994 . Because of this donation , Ficklen Memorial Stadium was renamed Dowdy – Ficklen Stadium . Also that year the roads were improved around the stadium . A year later , Al and Debbie Bagwell of Lake Gaston , Virginia donated to the East Carolina Educational Foundation . Because of this donation , the field inside the stadium was named Bagwell Field . The upper deck on the north side was completed in 1998 . It increased the capacity to 40 , 000 . This was the first seating capacity increase since 1977 . A year later the club level on the north side was completed . It added 3 , 000 seats to the total capacity . During the expansion of the upper deck and club level , the press box received improvements . In 1999 , a $ 2 million scoreboard was built in the east endzone . Also that year a Pirate sculpture was dedicated in the southeast area of the stadium . The three - ton bronze sculpture is over tall . Irwin Belk gave the sculpture to the school . Jodi Hollnagel , a faculty member of the School of Art created the sculpture . < ref name = " Minges Coliseum / Williams Arena - Building Histories " > < / ref > Murphy Center construction . The $ 13 million Murphy Center was dedicated on September 13 , 2002 . It was built in the west endzone of the stadium . It connects the stadium to Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum . The strength and conditioning , banquet rooms , sport memorabilia , and an academic enhancement center building was named for Pete and Lynn Murphy of Rose Hill , North Carolina . 2009 - 2010 expansion . The next expansion began in December 2009 . The expansion included removing the scoreboard located in the east end zone . Seven thousand seats were built in its place . The seats connect the north and south sides in a horseshoe pattern . Those seats increased the capacity to 50 , 000 . Restroom and concession stands were built under the new section . Above the east end zone , a new scoreboard was built . The high - definition scoreboard is wide and a little over tall . The LED portion is wide . This makes the new scoreboard the 22nd largest scoreboard in NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision . On the north and south sides of the stadium , 10 , 200 chair - back seats were installed . Lastly , another scoreboard was built on the west end zone in front of the Murphy Center . The total cost of the expansion was $ 20 million . Future expansion . East Carolina has received permission from the North Carolina General Assembly to plan a new pressbox and upper deck on the south side of the stadium . This expansion will increase seating to 58 , 000 . Marshall University plane crash . On November 14 , 1970 , the visiting Marshall University Thundering Herd lost a game 17 - 14 to the Pirates at Dowdy – Ficklen Stadium , which ended with Marshall quarterback Ted Shoebridge controversially being called for intentional grounding on the last play of the game . Later that evening , while on approach to Huntington Tri - State Airport , the Marshall football team ' s plane , which had been chartered to transport the Thundering Herd to and from Greenville , crashed , killing all seventy - five people on board . On December 11 , 2006 , a plaque was erected at the visitors ' entrance to Dowdy – Ficklen Stadium . It depicts the memorial fountain on the Marshall University campus .