Camp Randall Stadium

Building Description

Camp Randall Stadium is an outdoor stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. It is the current home of the Wisconsin Badgers football team, and is located on the west side of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. It currently seats 80,321 and is widely known as one of the premier American football venues in collegiate athletics. It is the oldest and fourth largest stadium in the Big Ten Conference. The stadium is also on the list of National Register of Historic Places.

History

Originally, the stadium consisted of a horseshoe opening to the south, with a running track around the field. The stadium was renovated at various points to raise the size of the horseshoe by nearly doubling the number of rows around the stadium in stages, placing south stands in front of the Wisconsin Field House (built in 1930), the removal of the track and addition of nearly 11,000 seats in 1958, the addition of the upper deck in 1966, and finally the 2005 addition of boxes along the eastern rim of the stadium.

The stadium received its name because it lies on the grounds of Camp Randall, a former Union Army base during the American Civil War that was eventually absorbed by the Wisconsin campus. The camp was named after Governor Alexander Randall, who was also a United States Postmaster General.

The field was originally natural grass, and was one of the first in the United States to convert to artificial turf, in 1968. A new AstroTurf field was installed in 1990. An artificial grass field, FieldTurf, was installed for the 2003 season.

The stadium also houses athletic offices of the university. In 2002, a large-scale reconstruction project commenced, which added luxury boxes, a five-story office building, separate football program offices, and expanded seating. In addition, concessions, restrooms and other infrastructure items were upgraded, the walkway around the field was removed, and new scoreboards were installed. The construction was completed prior to the start of the 2005 season. The football team continued to play at the stadium throughout the construction.