Sanford Stadium

Sanford Stadium
"Between the Hedges"
The Sanford Stadium in Athens
Data
place	Athens , Georgia
Coordinates	33 ° 56 '59.3 "  N , 83 ° 22' 24.1"  W Coordinates: 33 ° 56 '59.3 "  N , 83 ° 22' 24.1"  W.
owner	University of Georgia
start of building	1928
opening	October 12, 1929
First game	12 October 1929 Georgia Bulldogs - Yale Bulldogs 15: 0
Renovations	1994, 2003
Extensions	1949, 1964, 1967, 1981, 1991, 1994, 2000, 2003
surface	Natural grass ( Bermuda Grass )
costs	$ 360,000 (1929) $ 3 million (1967) $ 11.5 million (1981) $ 3.7 million (1991) about $ 6 million (1994) 12 $ Million (2000) $ 25 million (2003)
capacity	92,746 places (since 2004) 92,058 places (2003) 86,520 places (2000–2002) 86,117 places (1994–1999) 85,434 places (1991–1993) 82,122 places (1981–1990) 59,200 places (1967–1980) 43,621 places (1964 –1966) 36,000 places (1949–1963) 30,000 places (1929–1948)
Societies)
Georgia Bulldogs ( NCAA football, since 1929)
Events
Olympic football tournaments 1996

The Sanford Stadium is an American football - stadium on the campus of the University of Georgia in the US city of Athens in the state of Georgia . It serves as the home of the Georgia Bulldogs college football team , which is organized in the NCAA . The stadium has a capacity of 92,746, making it the tenth largest NCAA stadium and the fifteenth largest in the world. Since opening in 1929, the playing field is on both sides of Ligustersträuchern surrounded, therefore, is often said to play "between the hedges" ( English "Between the Hedges" ).

history

Steadman Vincent Sanford, after whom the stadium is named, joined the University of Georgia in 1903 as an English teacher. He later represented the faculty on the sports committee and eventually became president of the university and chancellor of the entire university system. In 1911, he arranged for the football team's venue to be moved to a central location on campus named Sanford Field after him .

In the early years, the UGA played some controversial games against rival Georgia Tech . Since their Grant Field venue could hold thousands of spectators, the games were played almost exclusively at Georgia Tech Stadium. When the UGA traveled undefeated to Georgia Tech in 1927 (with a win rate of 9-0) and lost the game 12-0, it was decided to build a new home stadium to play the derby every two years in Athens.

To finance the stadium construction, bank loans were given to the members of the sports association. The lenders were given lifelong permanent positions. The campaign was hugely successful, and in 1928 they had a $ 150,000 loan from fans and alumni. Construction began in 1928, costing a total of 360,000 US dollars. The stadium, with a capacity of 30,000, was largely built by convict labor, like many public works of the time.

On October 12, 1929, the first game took place in the stadium at the opening. The Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Yale Bulldogs 15-0 . With the game against the Kentucky Wildcats on October 26, 1940, the first game in the stadium was played under floodlights .

In 1996, the Sanford Stadium hosted the semi-finals, third-place games and the finals of the two Olympic soccer tournaments .

To date there have been numerous stadium expansions (most recently in 2004), which increased the audience capacity to today's 92,746. In autumn 2008 there were plans to increase the capacity by a further 9,000 places. But nothing has been decided yet.

panorama

and display information about the image

Panoramic view during the game against the Vanderbilt Commodores on October 16, 2006.

See also

• List of the largest stadiums in the world

Web links

Commons : Sanford Stadium  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• georgiadogs.com: stadium on the official website of the Georgia Bulldogs (English)
• collegegridirons.com: Sanford Stadium (English)