The Top 25 College Football Stadiums

Opened in the early 1940s and originally constructed in a valley below a cemetery, “Death Valley” has more than a little mystique. The now roughly 80,000-seat venue has grown above the original horseshoe design to include towering upper decks and luxury seating. It’s a fitting home for Dabo Swinney’s fierce program.

This 92,000-seat venue retains the charm of the original 30,000-seat building in big part because of its signature feature. The Bulldogs play football “between the hedges” because an English privet hedge (which some believe to be Chinese privet) surrounds the field.

Sailgating happens here. The home of the Huskies is found on the shores of Lake Washington, which diehard fans take over by boat on game day. Husky Stadium renovated recently to give more character to one of the largest stadiums in the West. With brick facades facing campus, the south end features an oversized roof to protect faithful from the weather, while the east side opens to the water.

One of the newest structures in college football, Colorado State’s home opened in 2017. The 41,000-seat venue brought football back to campus. Designers mixed in Colorado sandstone to give the building a native look.

Neyland is always near the top of football’s biggest stadium, and the two-tiered 100,000-plus-seat-venue along the Tennessee River is seemingly renovating to get a little bigger and a little better. Thanks to those 20 updates over the years, the Volunteers’ home has a mix of designs that give a historic site a touch of modernity.

The home of the Gamecocks had just 17,600 seats when it opened in 1934. Now the lower bowl wraps the field and upper deck additions fill both sidelines and one end zone. A 1980s-era engineering reinforcement added structural support to the 80,000-seat building to keep the upper decks from swaying too much during raucous moments. The design keeps noise inside the tight lower bowl.

The beauty of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium comes as much from the landscape architecture as it does from the construction of the venue. A new Walk of Champions links the famous "The Grove" to a refreshed north plaza and architecturally intriguing north side expansion. Tying to the rest of campus with archways that welcome players and fans into the 64,000-seat venue, the refreshed Vaught-Hemingway embraces The Grove.

Located on the banks of the Brazos River in downtown Waco and on the edge of Baylor’s campus, this 2014-opened venue moved football on campus in a modern structure with 39 suites, 74 loge boxes, 1,200 outdoor club seats and a shade canopy (a big deal in the heart of Texas). Complete with sail-up sailgating, the 45,000-seat stadium opens the horseshoe end to the outdoors.

With the Flatiron rocks lying out behind Folsom Field, the stadium merges with the landscape of the university campus and of Colorado itself. Brick architecture surrounds the stadium, giving a small-stadium feel and design to 53,000-seat Folsom Field.

The recent effort to overhaul Kyle Field added about 10,000 seats, putting the Aggies' home in the elite club of stadiums than can hold more than 100,000 fans. The process unified the stadium architecturally and created symmetry in the bowl. The remodel redid the concourses, added a new Hall of Fame, premiums areas, one of the largest video boards in college football, and seats closer to the field.

This is one of the rare football stadiums to embrace Frank Lloyd Wright’s theories of incorporating natural elements into the structure. When Sun Devil Stadium opened in 1958, the design originally nestled 30,000 seats against Tempe Butte. To carve out space, crews physically cut away from the western butte, tucking the stadium into a “saddle” between two buttes and building the grandstand directly onto the bedrock. Since then, Sun Devil Stadium has modernized and opened up, but the place still feels like it has the Wright stuff.

An entire stadium facade full of neo-gothic architecture defines Army's Michie Stadium, which opened its doors in 1924. The opposite side of the 38,000-seat stadium opens to the Hudson River. The historic building merges engineering with natural beauty, which, along with West Point's unique student culture, creates a one-of-a-kind college football setting.

The Coliseum's famed peristyle, with its Memorial Court of Honor inside, would single-handedly place this stadium high on the list. The home of the Trojans has been open since 1923, during which time it became the first stadium to host two olympiads and has hosted numerous sports franchises, including the newly returned Los Angeles Rams. Updates over the decades included bringing modern amenities to the historic façade and bowl, as well as sinking the field to allow more seats closer to the action.

The nation’s first stadium built for college football brought the horseshoe design to the country when it opened in 1903. With elements that tie to Greek stadium construction and Roman circus style, Harvard Stadium was also the world’s first massive reinforced concrete structure. The tight style would define so many stadiums that came after it, including many on this list.

Alabama's home comes with grandeur betting the Crimson Tide's place in the sport, including a plaque and statue-filled walk to the main gate and grand steps. The brick façade that wraps the entire structure was born in 1929. As it grew, so did the Walk of Champions that serves as a front door to the elevated entry, two-story lobby for suite and club patrons. There are plenty of columns in a Georgian colonial style, too.

Michigan Stadium was already a monstrosity in 1927, when it opened with 72,000 seats. Building the Big House was no easy feat. Three-fourths of the structure was sunk below ground level to counteract the underground spring lying below the stadium, which engulfed a crane during construction (the crane was never retrieved). Today the colossal stadium (designed after the Yale Bowl) holds 107,000 and is the largest football stadium in the country by capacity.

Fans' view from inside the Bears' home includes pine trees as well as the San Francisco Bay and its famed bridges. On the outside, the white exterior keeps fans marveling at the classic design of Memorial Stadium. And there's always "Tightwad Hill" on the field's east side where students try to catch a game for free from on high.

One more cool and curious thing about Cal's scenic stadium: It sits right on top of Hayward Fault.

A unique brick limestone covers the Notre Dame campus. The stadium is no different. Detailed with a gothic aesthetic, the 1930 building has grown plenty but always ties back to the original exterior. Legendary coach Knute Rockne helped Osborn Engineering Company design the 54,000-seat upgrade, using more than two million bricks to rise nine stories.

Autzen Stadium has the curvature of a Pringle, with sidelines sweeping taller than the low-strung end zones. A single deck that can hold 59,000 fans isn’t broken up by rings of glassed-in luxury seating. The stadium is built on bedrock, with locally sourced infill built around it to encase the state’s largest sports venue in earth while sinking the field. The result is one of the more lopsided yet flowing bowl designs in sports.