The Unique Story Behind America’s Largest Sports Stadium Located In A Michigan College Town
By Jack Springgate|Published March 11, 2024
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Jack Springgate
Author
I'm proud to be from the great state of Michigan. I've lived in the Mitten several different times throughout my life spending time in all corners of it. My journeys took me up and down the Lake Michigan coast, out east to explore Detroit and Ann Arbor, and to the dense forests of the UP.
Before writing with Only In Your State, I worked as a local TV news reporter and anchor, most recently in South Bend. Many of the stories I covered took place in Southwest Michigan. My roots are even deeper in the Wolverine State as I often head to Kalamazoo to visit family.
When I'm not out exploring nature, I'm avidly watching sports. I specifically have a deep love for the Michigan Wolverines (my alma mater), and I get to write about them and several other Big Ten teams as and editor for Athlon Sports. I also love to enjoy the great outdoors with my wife and our dog, Piper.
I'm excited to share all my favorite Michigan destinations with you. Keep exploring.
Michigan Stadium is the biggest sports venue in America and the third largest in the world. Located at the intersection of the University of Michigan golf course and a local high school, you might be wondering how it grew to hold almost 110,000 fans. The unique story behind this stadium’s construction continues to impress modern engineers nearly 100 years after it hosted its first football game.
If you find yourself spending time in Ann Arbor, Michigan, this might be one of those destinations you literally won’t be able to miss.
The story begins in 1921 when Michigan Wolverines football coach Fielding Yost became the University of Michigan Athletic Director. He dreamed of building a mammoth stadium project with a price tag of $1,245,000.
Between 1921 and 1926 Yost performed both football coaching and athletic director duties. The 1927 season was a new dawn for college football both on the field and for the field.
The Michigan Wolverines opened up their 1927 season against Ohio Wesleyan on their new home turf, Michigan Stadium. It immediately became the largest collegiate-owned stadium in the country with a seating capacity of more than 84,000, which would rank as the 15th largest stadium in the country today.
Three weeks after opening, Michigan Stadium, or “The Big House” as it’s commonly known, the Wolverines beat their arch rivals, The Ohio State Buckeyes, in front of more than 88,000 fans.
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Over the years, Michigan Stadium’s seating capacity remains the highest of any stadium in both North and South America, now holding roughly 107,600 fans. However, when you see it from the outside, it’s hard to tell just how massive this venue is.
The land where the stadium was built used to be a natural spring. Instead of building up, construction crews had to dig below the surface to take care of a large underground lake. This resulted in the first 70 rows being built underground with only additions visible to those on the outside.
The first major expansion came in 1949 when the wooden bleachers around the top of the stadium were replaced with steel stands adding roughly 20,000 seats. By 1956, The Big House finally reached a capacity of more than 100,000 fans.
Capacity steadily increased until major renovations maxed out at 107,601 in 2015. The reason it’s not a round number is because there’s supposedly an “extra seat” somewhere around the stadium dedicated to longtime athletic director Fritz Crisler.
Michigan Stadium was also the first college stadium to implement electronic scoreboards. They were installed a couple of years after the stadium first opened.
They were one of the few college venues to have an electronic scoreboard at each end of the field for decades. They upgraded both of them as recently as 2023.
The Big House was destined to be one of college football’s best venues, but who would have imagined it would become the third-largest sports stadium in the world?
One of the quirkiest legends about the stadium is the sunken crane buried beneath the field after it sunk into the sandy foundation when crews first broke ground.
I went to that soccer match in the last picture and it was one of the most electric atmospheres I’ve been a part of. However, the best way to experience the history of this stadium is by experiencing it with more than 107,000 other football fans. There’s a good chance you’ll see me there too.
Its most attended game held even more than that with more than 115,000 people attending the 2013 Michigan vs. Notre Dame game at the Big House. That set the record for the highest attendance of any football game ever, college or NFL. Finding a hotel can be a nightmare during football season, but you might have better luck finding an Ann Arbor home all for yourself on Vrbo.com
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