Notre Dame Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in South Bend, Indiana, the home field of the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team.
It was built in 1930 under the guidance of Knute Rockne, regarded as one of the greatest coaches in college football history, which gave rise to the stadium's nickname "The House that Rockne Built". Prior to the stadium's construction, the Fighting Irish played in Cartier Field. The stadium seating capacity was nearly 60,000 for decades, until a major renovation between 1994 and 1997 added an upper bowl and more than 20,000 additional seats, which increased the capacity to over 80,000. In 2014, the Campus Crossroads renovation decreased the seats to 77,622. The stadium has sold out regularly for home games since 1964.
It is one of the oldest, most recognizable and iconic venues in college football. It is also famous for its view of the Touchdown Jesus mural. The playing surface was changed to artificial turf in 2014, after 84 seasons on natural grass. The playing field has a conventional north–south alignment at an approximate elevation of above sea level.[ Notre Dame Stadium] in [ Geonames.org (cc-by)]
In 2014, the $400 million Campus Crossroads expansion renovated the structure and added three buildings onto the stadium: the Duncan Student Center, which hosts student recreational and dining facilities; O'Neill Hall, which houses the university's music department; and Corbett Family Hall, which hosts the psychology and anthropology departments. In addition, the three buildings house premium stadium seating, press boxes, and event spaces.
The stadium also hosts the university's commencement, and has also been the venue for concerts, the 2019 NHL Winter Classic, and hockey, soccer, and rugby matches.
History
Construction The stadium was built in 1930 to replace the outdated Cartier Field. The construction of the stadium project was brought to a head by the actions of Rockne. season had not been a stellar one but the net profits for that football season approached $500,000. Rockne was frustrated with the slow and cautious Holy Cross priests and their decision-making process about spending money on the new stadium. He could not believe that a decision could not be made when there was such a large amount of money in the bank. Because of this and a number of other issues, Rockne submitted his resignation to Father Charles O’Donnell, the president of the university. O’Donnell knew of Rockne's history of submitting his resignations and he also suspected that nothing would fully satisfy Rockne.
O’Donnell was willing to find a compromise but was also unwilling to put the university in debt to finance the stadium. He knew that the excess receipts from 1928 season and the projected receipts from playing all the away games in 1929 on neutral fields would bring adequate cash into the university to finance the construction of the stadium. O’Donnell also devised the scheme to finance 240 six-person “reserved box seats”. This precursor of the personal seat license would allow the buyer to purchase tickets at face value and guarantee the same prime location for ten years for an investment of $3,000 between the 45-yard lines, $2,500 between the 45 and 35-yard line and $2,000 between the 35 and the 25-yard line. The university raised over $150,000 on this idea alone.Being Catholic, Being American The Notre Dame Story, 1842–1934, Robert E Burns, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame Indiana, 1999
The total cost of construction exceeded $750,000 and the original seating capacity was 54,000. Head coach Knute Rockne played a key role in its design, keeping the space between the playing field and the stands to a minimum. It is patterned, on a smaller scale but in better fashion, after Michigan Stadium, the main difference being the tunnel location. In 1929, plans were started by Osborn Engineering of Cleveland, selected for their experience in designing Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park. Sollitt Construction Company of South Bend was the general contractor, and earth preparation began in the fall of 1929. Due to an unusually cold fall and winter, above-ground construction did not begin until April 2, 1930, with the stadium effectively being built in just six months. Over two million bricks were used in the construction of the walls and the concrete was placed in a monolithic continuous placement by section. There were over 300 workers on the site at most times, and they worked five 10-hour days and one six-hour day on Saturdays. The average worker was paid $1 a day plus lunch with the more skilled workers earning up to $5 a day.Notre Dame archives
The original stadium seated 59,075, measured a half-mile (800 m) in circumference, stood high, and featured a glass-enclosed press box rising above ground level. Initial stands reached 55 rows.
The Irish played their first game in the new stadium in 1930 on October 4, and defeated The first Notre Dame touchdown in the stadium was scored by "Jumping Joe" Savoldi on a 98-yard kickoff return. The official dedication was a week later, on October 11 against Navy, and Savoldi scored three touchdowns and was cited as "the first hero in the lore of Notre Dame Stadium." G.K. Chesterton was present as a spectator for the game, and wrote the poem The Arena to commemorate the occasion. Frank E. Hering, captain of the 1898 team, coach from 1896 to 1898, and president of the Alumni Association, delivered the major speech during the dedication. The stadium witnessed its first game at capacity in 1931, with 50,731 spectators for the USC game.
Modern era
The first televised game in the stadium occurred on November 8, 1952, and the Irish beat Oklahoma 27–21. The attendance record of the stadium pre-renovation was of 60,128 spectators, and was set for the ND vs. Oklahoma game on Oct. 27, 1956, with Oklahoma winning, 40–0. In 1979, the 50th anniversary of the stadium was celebrated during the Navy game, with commemorative tickets that were reproductions of the original 1930 dedication game. The stadium was featured in the movie Rudy in 1993. The 1991 game against Tennessee was the 100th straight sold-out game and the 300th game played in the stadium.
The stadium was renovated and expanded between November 1994 through the summer of 1997, during which home games were still played in the stadium. The $53 million expansion project featured increasing the seating to 80,795 and installing permanent lighting. The renovation featured the construction of an upper bowl (which contributed the more than 20,000 additional seats), an expansion of the press box with 300 new spots for reporters and additional TV and radio broadcasting booths, doubling in size of both the home and away team locker rooms, two new scoreboards, and in addition, a new field and drainage system. The stadium went from 15th to 8th largest in college football. The dedication game for the renovated stadium occurred on September 6, 1997, with a game against Georgia Tech that saw the Irish prevail 17–13.
In October 2009, a statue of Knute Rockne was unveiled near the north gate of the stadium.
On September 3, 2011, the stadium witnessed its first ever evacuation. During a game against South Florida, severe weather and a lightning storm forced a successful and smooth evacuation at halftime.
On January 29, 2014, the university announced plans to attach three new buildings to the stadium, totaling more than in expansions and costing about $400 million, with a timetable of 33 months for completion. After the completion of the Campus Crossroads Project, the official seating capacity of the stadium was listed at 77,622. The renovation also included the addition of a Jumbotron in the south end zone.
The project was completed in January 2018. The first game in the newly renovated stadium took place on September 2, 2017, when the Irish beat the Temple Owls 49–16.
On December 20, 2024, Notre Dame hosted in-state foe Indiana in the first College Football Playoff game played in an on-campus stadium, defeating the Hoosiers 27–17. The Irish went on to the national championship game that season. It was also the first home game not televised by NBC since November 17, 1990 (due to it being a playoff game and therefore unaffiliated with Notre Dame's sponsors), when ESPN broadcast the Irish' 24–21 loss to Penn State.
Traditions The Notre Dame stadium is regarded as an iconic and recognizable venue in college football.
One of the most recognizable and storied features of the stadium is a yellow sign with blue letters spelling “Play Like A Champion Today.” placed in a stairwell between the home team locker room and the tunnel to the field. This sign dates back to 1986, when Lou Holtz came across a photo in a Notre Dame book with the sign “Play Like A Champion Today.” After asking around and coming up with no one remembering the sign and what had happened to it, he had a new sign painted and placed. This original sign was painted by Laurie Wenger in the fall of 1986. In 1991, NBC, which had just given the university its own marquee TV deal, showcased the sign by filming the players hitting it as they entered the field. Today, it is a tradition by players to touch it on their way out of the locker room. Above the sign is a listing of Notre Dame's eleven national championships.
For 39 seasons from 1982 to 2020, Michael Collins served as the Public Address Announcer for Notre Dame football, and the voice of Notre Dame Stadium. Collins is a 1967 graduate of Notre Dame, and had a nearly 40-year career as a reporter, producer, news director and news anchor for WNDU-TV and WSBT-TV in South Bend. During his tenure, Collins coined and popularized the phrase "Here Come the Irish!" as the football team ran out of the tunnel before each game. Today, the phrase is used widely by announcers and fans in a variety of sports. Collins announced 233 consecutive Notre Dame football games at the stadium before retiring after the 2020 season.
One of the most popular stadium traditions is the traffic safety messages delivered on the P.A. by Indiana State Police Sgt. Tim McCarthy at the end of the 3rd quarter of each game. Starting each message with "May I Have Your Attention Please?" McCarthy began reading the safety messages during the 1960 season. In order to grab the crowds' attention more easily, McCarthy began adding humorous driving-related quips and puns at the end of each message. These puns quickly became a fan favorite and a staple on game days. Examples of these quips included, “The trip home will be heavenly … if you drive like an angel” and “Keep your driving well-polished to avoid having a bad finish.” McCarthy would deliver these messages live at the stadium for 55 years until his retirement in 2015. Recordings from past messages are still replayed at Notre Dame Stadium to this day. McCarthy would pass away in 2020 at age 89.
Structure and architecture As originally built, the seating capacity was 54,000, but could hold as many as 61,000 with additional temporary bleachers. By 1966, its capacity increased to 59,075, mainly by reducing the average seat width from . In 1997, 21,000 new seats were added to the stadium, bringing the seating capacity to 80,795. After the 2014-2017 Campus Crossroads renovation, the seating decreased to 77,622.
There has never been any advertising or corporate signage allowed in the stadium, and the decorations are simple and traditional. Notre Dame explicitly tried to maintain the look and feel of the stadium in line with the original stadium built by Rockne in the 1930s.
Field