What are the oldest active college football stadiums?

The first recorded college football game took place on November 6, 1869. Students from Princeton and Rutgers played on a patch of grass in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Rutgers won 6-4 in front of around 100 spectators.

Today, college football is one of the biggest sports in the country and boasts some of the most famous venues of all time. There are several college football stadiums that are more than 100 years old.

Here’s a look at the sport’s oldest active stadiums:

Franklin Field (Philadelphia) – 1895

Franklin Field, home of the Penn Quakers, opened in 1895 and was remodeled in 1922. It is the oldest operating college football stadium in the country. The two-tier venue was the first college stadium in the country with a scoreboard and hosted one of the first games broadcast on radio in 1922.

Harvard Stadium (Boston) – 1903

The Harvard Crimson Football Stadium is the oldest permanent concrete structure in the country dedicated to collegiate athletics. Originally a gift from Harvard’s Class of 1879, the stadium hosted the first football game against Dartmouth on November 14, 1903.

Kyle Field (College Station, Texas) – 1904

The Texas A&M Aggies football team has called Kyle Field home since 1904. Edwin Jackson, Texas A&M’s former dean of agriculture and president of the athletic council, gifted Kyle a plot of land on the southern edge of campus that was reserved for his gardening experiments. Kyle then purchased and built bleachers with his own money, creating the origins of what is now known as Kyle Field.

Fitton Field (Worcester, Massachusetts) – 1908

Although the first football game was played at Holy Cross in 1903, the private Jesuit liberal arts college did not open its football stadium until September 26, 1908. The Holy Cross Crusaders went undefeated at Fitton Field from 1935 to 1938.

Bobby Dodd Stadium (Atlanta) – 1913

Originally known as Grant Field until 1988, Bobby Dodd Stadium is the home field of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Officially named Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field, the venue opened on September 27, 1913 and has a capacity of 5,600 spectators. Today, the oldest FBS stadium in the country (Kyle Field was not a concrete stadium until 1927) seats 55,000 spectators.

Davis Wade Stadium (Starkville, Mississippi) – 1914

Davis Wade Stadium is home to the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Originally named Scott Field in honor of former Mississippi State football and basketball star and Olympian Don Scott, Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field (as it is officially known) is the second oldest FBS stadium in the country. The team’s first mascot, Bully I, was buried under the bench at the 50-yard line in 1939.

Yale Bowl (New Haven, Connecticut) – 1914

Considered the first bowl-shaped stadium in the country, the Yale Bowl is home to the Yale Bulldogs. An estimated more than 70,000 fans, including Presidents William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt, filled the stadium when it hosted its first game on November 21, 1914, a 36-0 loss to Ivy League rival Harvard. The New York Giants played their 1973 and 1974 home games at the Yale Bowl while Yankee Stadium was being renovated and Giants Stadium was under construction.

Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (Oxford, Mississippi) – 1915

The Ole Miss Rebels call Vaught-Hemingway Stadium home. Alumni of the University of Mississippi voted in 1939 to name the venue after Judge William Hemingway, a longtime chairman of the school’s athletic committee who is credited with restoring the school to a “place in the football sun.” The stadium later added the name of former Rebels coach John Howard Vaught, who won 190 games and three national championships (1959, 1960, 1962) during his career (the NCAA did not officially recognize the title until 1960).

Nippert Stadium (Cincinnati) – 1915

Nippert Stadium is the football home of the Cincinnati Bearcats. Cincinnati began playing at the site in 1901, but it wasn’t until 1915 that there was a permanent concrete stadium there. The construction of the stadium was completed in 1924. The James Gamble Nippert Memorial Stadium is named after Jimmy Nippert, who died after sustaining an injury in a 1923 game against rival Miami (Ohio). Nippert’s grandfather donated the funds necessary to complete construction of the stadium. The Bearcats posted a 41-10 record at Nippert from 2015-22.

Camp Randall Stadium (Madison, Wisconsin) – 1917

While the Wisconsin Badgers had played football at Camp Randall since 1895, it wasn’t until 1917 that a fully functioning stadium existed on the site. On November 3 of that year, the Badgers hosted their first game at Camp Randall Stadium and defeated their rival Minnesota 10-7. Camp Randall Stadium was built on land originally used to train Wisconsin troops during the Civil War.

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