Notre Dame Stadium

Notre Dame Stadium is the home football stadium for the University of Notre Dame. The university's football team are the Fighting Irish. The stadium is located on the university's campus in Notre Dame, Indiana, just north of the city of South Bend. It was opened in 1930. The stadium can seat over 80,000 people.

The House That Rockne Built
Location	Notre Dame, Indiana
Coordinates	41°41′54″N 86°14′2″W
Owner	University of Notre Dame
Operator	University of Notre Dame
Capacity	80,795 59,075 (1996)
Surface	FieldTurf
Construction
Broke ground	1930
Opened	1930
Construction cost	$750,000
Tenants
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (NCAA) (1930-present)

History

The stadium opened in 1930. It replaced the old stadium Cartier Field. It cost more than US$750,000 to build. The head coach of the Fighting Irish, Knute Rockne, played an important role in the design of the stadium. The design was based on Michigan Stadium. The stadium originally held 54,000 people. It measured a half-mile (0.8 kilometres) in circumference and stood 45 feet (14 m) high. It was built by the Sollitt Construction Company of South Bend. They began building in April 1930, and took six months to build. The Irish played their first game in the new stadium on 4 October 1930. They beat the SMU Mustangs 20–14. The official dedication was on October 11 against Navy.

Over the years, the stadium's seating capacity was gradually increased to 59,075. This was mainly done by making most of the seats smaller. In 1997, 21,000 new seats were added to the stadium, bringing the seating capacity to the present 80,795. Permanent lights were also installed. The lights were paid for by NBC, which has held the exclusive television rights to all home games since 1991.

The playing surface was natural grass throughout the stadium's history until FieldTurf, an advanced artificial surface, was installed before the 2014 football season.

Touchdown Jesus

Touchdown Jesus

The stadium is known for its view of Touchdown Jesus (actually titled The Word of Life), a large mural of the resurrected Jesus. The mural is painted on the southern exterior wall of the Hesburgh Library. It is 132 ft (40 m) high and 65 ft (20 m) wide. It can be seen over the northern end zone of the stadium. The mural was designed by Millard Sheets and was constructed in 1964. It cost US$200,000. It is contains 81 types of stone from 16 countries, and is composed of hundreds of panels which incorporate 6,700 pieces of granite.

In 1997, fans protested the university's plans to add 20,000 seats to the stadium. These seats would have blocked the view of Touchdown Jesus from the field. The university then considered limiting seats in the end zone. For aesthetic reasons however, developers went with a larger bowl all the way around. As a result, the view of Touchdown Jesus was partially blocked.

Notre Dame StadiumTouchdown Jesus Media

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  Postcard of Notre Dame stadium between circa 1930 and 1945.

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  Duncan Student Center and O'Neill Hall as part of the Campus Crossroads addition to the stadium.

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  Notre Dame (2023)

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  Aerial view of the stadium in 2005, before the Campus Crossroads expansion.

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  Duncan Student Center under construction in 2017, part of the Campus Crossroads project.

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  Notre Dame Stadium

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  A view from the east side of the Notre Dame Stadium showing (from left to right) the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the Golden Dome atop the Administration Building and the Hesburgh Library with the mural of Touchdown Jesus.

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  The 2019 NHL Winter Classic at Notre Dame Stadium.

Other websites

• Notre Dame Stadium Archived 2009-02-26 at the Wayback Machine