Notre Dame Stadium

Home of the American college football team, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Irish first played their games on Cartier Field, located at that time just north of the current stadium site. As the University’s national football reputation expanded, thanks to the coaching of Knute Rockne, however, the need for a new home for the Irish was voiced. As a result, Notre Dame Stadium was built in 1930 at the direction of Rockne.  Architecturally, Notre Dame Stadium was patterned, on a smaller scale, after the University of Michigan’s mammoth stadium. The original stadium held 59,075 people, measured a half-mile in circumference, stood 45 feet high, and featured a glass-enclosed press box rising 60 feet above ground level. The total cost of construction exceeded $750,000. In the mid-1990s, Notre Dame’s red-bricked arena underwent a $50 million expansion and renovation that added more than 21,000 seats. Other improvements included a new natural grass field, two new scoreboards, permanent lights, and a three-tier press box. Due to all the legendary players and memorable moments that have graced its bluegrass turf over the years, Notre Dame Stadium has unquestionably developed a lore all its own. The stadium continues to be one of the most recognizable and revered structures in the world of sport.