Jordan-Hare Stadium

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Jordan-Hare Stadium
The Jungle

Location	Auburn, Alabama
Opened	1939
Owner	Auburn University
Operator	Auburn University
Surface	Grass
Former names
Auburn Stadium (1939-1949) Cliff Hare Stadium (1949-1973)
Tenants
Auburn University Tigers (NCAA) (1939-Present) Auburn High School Tigers (1939-1947)
Capacity
87,451

Jordan-Hare Stadium is the playing venue for Auburn University's football team located on campus in Auburn, Alabama, USA. The stadium is named for Ralph 'Shug' Jordan (pronounced JURD-an), the University's winningest football coach, and Cliff Hare, a member of Auburn's first football team. On November 19, 2005, the playing field at the stadium was named Pat Dye Field, honoring a former coach. The stadium reached its current seating capacity of 87,451 with the 2004 expansion and is the ninth largest on-campus stadium in the NCAA. By the end of the 2006 season, 19,308,753 spectators had witnessed a football game in Jordan-Hare.

East stand, suites and upper deck

[edit] History

The stadium, then known as Auburn Stadium with 7,290 seats, hosted its first game on November 9, 1939, between Auburn High School and Dadeville High School^[1]. About one month later, the stadium was dedicated and the first college football game was played against the University of Florida on November 30, 1939. By the time the stadium was renamed Cliff Hare Stadium in 1949, it had grown to a capacity of 21,500. Shug Jordan became head coach of the Tigers in 1951, and he was still coaching when the stadium was renamed to honor him in 1973, making it the first stadium in the United States to be named for an active coach.

With the addition of the west upper deck in 1980, and the east upper deck in 1987, the stadium was the largest in the state of Alabama until eclipsed by Bryant-Denny Stadium at the University of Alabama in 2006 (capacity 92,158). The 2004 stadium expansion extended the east upper deck by an additional section on each end, adding more luxury suites and additional general seating to reach the current capacity to 87,451.

In 1998, artist Michael Taylor was commissioned to paint ten large murals on the east-side exterior of the stadium. The paintings depict the greatest players, teams, and moments from Auburn's football history to that date. [2]

To start the 2007 football season, Auburn will install a 30 x 74 foot high definition video scoreboard. The screen will be provided by Daktronics. The screen will be the first of its kind in the Southeastern Conference. In size, the screen will be third behind Tokyo and the University of Texas's Godzillatron.

[edit] Miscellaneous

As of the 2006 season, in 324 home games played in Jordan-Hare, Auburn has a winning percentage of .798 (255-62-7) despite playing in the extremely competitive Southeastern Conference.