Davis Wade Stadium

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Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field

Location	Lee Blvd Mississippi State, MS 39762
Opened	1914
Owner	Mississippi State University
Operator	Mississippi State University
Surface	Prescription Athletic Turf
Former names
Scott Field (1914-2001)
Tenants
Mississippi State University Bulldogs (NCAA) (1914-Present)
Seats
55,082

Davis Wade Stadium is the home playing venue for the Mississippi State Bulldogs football team. Located in Starkville, Mississippi, the stadium has a capacity of 55,082. It was built in 1914 as Scott Field and was named for Don Magruder Scott, an Olympic sprinter and one of the University's first football stars. The name of the playing surface is still Scott Field. It is the second oldest Division I-A college football stadium.

[edit] History

Construction projects in 1936 and 1948 resulted in a concrete grandstand structure with a capacity of 35,000. In 1983, the endzone seating was removed reducing the capacity to 32,000. A 1986 expansion costing $7.2 million, raised without state budget appropriations, added almost 9000 seats consisting primarily of a 5,500-seat upper deck as well as permanent lighting and a computerized scoreboard which was replaced in 1997 with a Sony JumboTron.

The current capacity of 55,082 was reached with a $30 million expansion completed in 2002. The latest expansion included 50 skyboxes, 1700 club-level seats and a second upper deck seating 7,000. A large donation from Floyd Davis Wade Sr., of Meridian, Miss. was instrumental in making the expansion possible and the stadium was renamed in his honor.

The first division I-A college football game played post 9-11 was in this stadium between Mississippi State and the South Carolina Gamecocks on September 20, 2001, and broadcast on ESPN.