Davis Wade Stadium, officially known as Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field is the home venue for the Mississippi State Bulldogs football team. Originally constructed in 1914 as New Athletic Field, it is the second-oldest stadium in the Football Bowl Subdivision behind Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd Stadium, and the fourth oldest in all of college football behind Penn's Franklin Field, Harvard Stadium, and Bobby Dodd Stadium. As of 2022, it has a seating capacity of 60,311 people.

History

The stadium was built in 1914, as a replacement for Hardy Field, and was called New Athletic Field. The first game it hosted was a Mississippi State win over Marion (Ala.) Military Institute, 54–0, on Oct. 3, 1914. In 1920 the student body adopted a resolution to name the field Scott Field in honor of Donald Scott, an Olympic middle-distance runner and one of the university's football stars from 1915 to 1916. Prior to the 2001 season the stadium was named Davis Wade Stadium in honor of longtime MSU supporter Floyd Davis Wade Sr., co-founder of Aflac, because of a large financial contribution he made toward stadium expansion. The playing surface retained the name Scott Field and the official name of the facility is "Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field".

Renovations and expansions

In 1928 permanent seating for 3,000 was built on the west side—the lower level of the current facility's west grandstand. In addition, there were portable stands with a similar capacity bringing the seating total to around 6,000. In 1936, with the use of WPA labor, concrete stands seating 8,000 people were added to the west sidelines and steel bleachers were built on the east sideline and end zones. This brought the total capacity to 20,000. 1948 saw the stadium enlarged once again with the expansion of the west sideline structure and the addition of 12,000 concrete seats and stands in both end zones to bring the total capacity to 35,000. In 1983, the end zone seating was removed, reducing the capacity to 32,000. A 1986 expansion costing $7.2 million, raised without state budget appropriations, added almost 9,000 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 Frank Turman Fieldhouse received an additional floor to its facility in 1990. Named Leo W. Seal M-Club Centre in honor of Leo W. Seal Sr., a 2-year letter winner at State, it is a meeting place for the letterman organization, the M-Club. In 1999, the Turman Fieldhouse underwent numerous changes, including remodeled dressing rooms for both teams, and an all-new recruiting lounge, and the stadium began a $50 million expansion and renovation partially funded by Floyd Davis Wade Sr.. The expansion was completed in 2002 bringing the total capacity to 55,082, including 50 skyboxes, 1,700 club-level seats and a second upper deck seating 7,000. In the fall of 2008 construction was completed on an all-new $6.1 million 112 ft wide by 48 ft tall HD video display board in the south end zone above the Leo Seal M-Club Center. The LED video system is the tenth largest high-definition video board in college football. The new board was used for the first time on November 1, 2008, during the Mississippi State Bulldogs vs. Kentucky Wildcats football game. The main video display is complemented with two HD LED advertising boards on each side of the main board, as well as an HD LED "ribbon ticker" which spans the width of the structure below the main board. Therefore, the total video board square footage (on one structure) is 6896 sqft. To complement the all-new video system, a new state-of-the-art sound system has been installed by Pro Sound, headquartered in Miami, Florida. A $75 million expansion, completed in August 2014, increased the capacity of the stadium to 61,337, created new concessions and restrooms, and created a new west side concourse. Part of the expansion included sealing off the north end zone and installing a large HD video board, similar to the one in the south end zone which replaced the JumboTron that was installed there in 1997. On June 22, 2022, MSU unveiled a renovation plan called "Balconies at Davis Wade Stadium". The new concept replaces seats on the west side of the upper deck with tiered open-air boxes. The idea behind the renovation is to provide fans with children and those hoping for a more social gameday experience to have the ability to walk around and socialize with fellow fans without having to leave the seating area. The balconies are each 9 feet, 6 inches deep with the exception of the top balconies which are 12 feet deep, and each balcony is equipped with a drink rail in the front. Fans will be able to come in the day before gameday to service their balcony by bringing supplies, chairs, fans, etc. in preparation for the game the following day. Sections 301, 302, 312, 313, along with parts of sections 303 and 311 will have their current bleacher seats removed and be replaced with the new boxes. The renovation is expected to reduce the total seating capacity of Davis Wade Stadium by almost 2,000 seats and is estimated to cost $2.5 million. Currently, the balconies are expected to be completed by mid-August and in operation by the first home game of the season against Memphis on September 3, 2022.

Attendance records

Traditions

Facts

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