OHIO STADIUM

'Ohio Stadium' (also known as 'The Horseshoe', or simply 'The ’Shoe') is the home of the Buckeyes football team at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The stadium was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service on March 22, 1974.^[3]
Ohio Stadium also provided a home to Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew from the league's inception in 1996 until soccer-specific Columbus Crew Stadium opened in 1999. Ohio Stadium is also Columbus' largest concert venue, with seating for up to 110,000; U2, Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd are among the many acts who have played in Ohio Stadium over the years.
The stadium does not have field lights and when night events do occur special lights must be temporarily installed (as happened in the 2005 game against Texas and the 2006 nationally televised game with Michigan).

Contents

History

Opening

Renovations

Present day

Columbus Crew

Buckeyes football

References

External links

History

As early as 1913, Ohio Field at High Street and Woodruff Avenue was unable to contain the crowds attracted to many Buckeye home football games, leading to faculty discussion of moving the site elsewhere and building a new facility. The growing popularity of football in Ohio led to the design of a horseshoe-shaped stadium, conceptualized and designed by architect Howard Dwight Smith in 1918. A public-subscription Stadium Campaign to fund the project was begun in October 1920 and raised over $ 1 million in pledges by January 1921, of which $975,000 was actually honored. ^[1]

The stadium was completed in 1922 by E. H. Latham Company of Columbus with materials and labor from the Marble Cliff Quarry Co. at a construction cost of $1.34 million and a total cost of $1.49 million. The stadium's original capacity was 66,210, astronomical in size at the time. Many university officials feared that the stadium would never be filled to capacity.^[1]
Smith employed numerous revolutionary architectural techniques during the building of the stadium. At the base is a slurry wall, to keep out the waters from the Olentangy River. The stadium sits on the flood plain, giving it a precarious, but beautiful setting. Instead of building a large bowl, like the previously constructed Yale Bowl or later at Michigan Stadium, Ohio Stadium was designed to have an upper deck that would hang over part of the lower deck, giving Ohio Stadium its "A", "B", and "C" decks. Instead of employing numerous columns like those at Harvard Stadium, Smith designed double columns that allow for more space between columns. The rotunda at the north end of the stadium, which is now adorned with stained glass murals of the offensive and defensive squads that comprise the Buckeye football team,^[6] was designed to look like the dome at the Pantheon in Rome. The rotunda also features maize flowers on a blue background which were the outcome of the dedication game against the University of Michigan in 1922 ^[7].

Opening

The first game in the stadium was against Ohio Wesleyan University on October 7, 1922, and brought a crowd of around 25,000, which left people concerned because the stadium was half empty. This concern was put to rest at the stadium dedication against Michigan on October 21. The crowd was announced at the game to be 72,000, but no one is really sure how many people made it into the stadium. This attendance mark was broken in a game against Michigan in 1925 when 90,411 came out to support the Buckeyes; this is also the last time standing-room-only tickets were sold for a game.^[1]

(The stadium itself did not regularly sell out until after WWII, in the 20s and 30s most games only drew in 20,000 or 30,000 fans, with many more attending the annual game against Michigan.)
In 1923, a cinder track was built around the football field. The stadium became home to the track and field team for OSU for many years.^[1]

Renovations

As time passed, minor adjustments raised the seating capacity to more than 90,000. In 1984, a new $2.1 million scoreboard was installed. The stadium was heavily renovated from 1999 to 2000 -- the press box was replaced, additional seating was installed above the existing upper deck and 81 luxury suites and 2,500 club seats were added. The track and field-specific Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium had been built by the university nearby, thus the track at Ohio Stadium was no longer needed. The track was removed and the field of play was lowered by 14.5 feet to add additional seating closer to the field. The temporary bleachers in the south end zone were replaced with permanent seating. However, the south end of the stadium remains partially open, thus allowing the stadium to maintain its noted Horseshoe configuration.^[1]
General improvements were also made in the seating and concourse areas. The result of the $194 million renovation was a capacity that rose to 101,568. Eighty percent of the cost of the renovation was funded by the sale of leases on the suites and club seats, with the remaining 20 percent funded by donations and the sale of naming rights for portions of the stadium. No public or university money was spent in the renovation process.^[1]
In 1970, the natural grass field was removed, and AstroTurf was installed, complements of a generous donation. In 1979, the surface was replaced with Superturf. In 1990, natural grass made its return to the Horseshoe, a special grass called "Prescription Athletic Turf." New field designs were put in place for the 1992 season and existed through the 2006 season. During that last season problems with the natural grass began to arise. After serious damage to the field during use in the spring of 2006 the field never recovered and had to be resodded. That grass never took root due to bad weather and The Ohio State University was forced to resod the field again only three weeks after the old sod was laid. The University spent approximately $150,000 to perform both soddings. Due to poor field quality, along with maintenance expense and the ability to use the field year-round, OSU decided to replace the natural grass with FieldTurf for the 2007 season. This new artificial turf looks and feels like real grass but only requires very minimal upkeep.^[12]

Present day

Columbus Crew

MLS games were held at Ohio Stadium between 1996 and 1999. The home opener was held on April 13, 1996 against D.C. United before 25,266 fans. Star player Brian McBride scored 2 goals and had an assist in a 4–0 rout. The field at Ohio Stadium was the smallest in the MLS, measuring only 62 yards wide by 106 yards long, limited by the track surrounding it.^[13] Because of the smaller market for soccer than Ohio State football, B Deck, C Deck, and the South end zone seats were closed, leading to a capacity of 25,234.
^[14]
Attendance stayed strong through the first season, seeing a record audience of 31,550 September 15, 1996 win over the MetroStars, 2–0.^[15] Despite the facility's size, problems like field dimensions and the lack of lighting pushed the Crew to find a new home. Jamey Rootes, Crew President and General Manager stated, 'We prefer a smaller, more intimate environment (than Ohio Stadium). . . . We've got to create a major league environment. Ohio Stadium is a great stadium, but we cannot create a major league environment in a facility that is way too big for us."^[16] The Crew finished their tenure at Ohio Stadium 30–18.

Buckeyes football

Ohio Stadium saw its largest crowd on November 18, 2006, with 105,708 fans in attendance for the Buckeyes' matchup against their arch rival, the Michigan Wolverines.^[17] The game broke an attendance record set in a 2005 contest with Texas.^[18] Mel Kiper has stated that Ohio Stadium has the second-best atmosphere of any college venue, and Beano Cook said, "There is nothing better than when the Ohio State Marching Band and the sousaphone player dots the 'i' for Script Ohio."^[19]
The crowd is known for being loud during the offensive series of the visiting team. University of Iowa coach Hayden Fry complained after a 1985 loss that the fans were too loud for his quarterback, Chuck Long, to call plays and suggested sound meters be used to gauge the noise level, penalizing home teams if there was too much noise. He said, "It's a realistic fact that happened. He became mentally disturbed for the first time since he's been a starter for us because of his inability to communicate."^[20]

References

1. http://football.ballparks.com/NCAA/Big10/OhioState/index.htm
2. National Register Information System
3. http://www.nr.nps.gov/iwisapi/explorer.dll?IWS_SCHEMA=NRIS97&IWS_LOGIN=1&IWS_REPORT=100000001
4. http://football.ballparks.com/NCAA/Big10/OhioState/index.htm
5. http://football.ballparks.com/NCAA/Big10/OhioState/index.htm
6.
7. The Five Greatest Traditions Of Ohio State Football, by Mike Furlan. Retrieved on November 20, 2006.
8. http://football.ballparks.com/NCAA/Big10/OhioState/index.htm
9. http://football.ballparks.com/NCAA/Big10/OhioState/index.htm
10. http://football.ballparks.com/NCAA/Big10/OhioState/index.htm
11. http://football.ballparks.com/NCAA/Big10/OhioState/index.htm
12. http://www.primenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=118250
13. Crew Routs United 4–0 in Opener Craig Merz
14. Crew Won't Increase 'Shoe Size; for Now, Capacity Will Remain as Is Craig Merz
15. SOCCER: Crew Wins 8th Straight; More than 31,000 Fans See Columbus' 2–0 Win Over the MetroStars
16. Crew Has Home for '98 Season Craig Merz
17. http://ohiostatebuckeyes.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/2006-2007/12michig.html OSU/Michigan 2006 Box Score, containing attendance figure. Retrieved on 2006-11-19.
18. Postgame Notes From No. 4 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Texas
19. For scenery, check out Michie Stadium, by Mel Kiper Jr., March 8, 2002. Retrieved on June 23, 2006.
20. Too Much Noise

External links

★ Official stadium info at OhioStateBuckeyes.com

★ Stadium history on display at main library in ''The Lantern''

★ WOSU history of stadium

★ The Ohio Stadium Story Highly detailed account of genesis, funding, and construction of Ohio Stadium