Bryant–Denny Stadium is an outdoor stadium in the southeastern United States, on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. It is the home field of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
Opened in 1929, it was originally named Denny Stadium in honor of George H. Denny, the school's president from 1912 to 1932. In 1975, the state legislature added longtime head coach and alumnus Paul "Bear" Bryant to the stadium's name. Bryant led the Tide for seven more seasons, through 1982, and is one of the few in Division I to have coached in a venue bearing his name.
With a seating capacity of 100,077, it is the fourth-largest stadium in the Southeastern Conference, the eighth-largest stadium in the United States, and the tenth-largest stadium in the world.
Construction history
The replacement for Denny Field, Denny Stadium opened in 1929, with 6,000 in attendance for a 55–0 victory over Mississippi College on September 28. It was officially dedicated the following week at homecoming ceremonies against Ole Miss, a 22–7 Crimson Tide victory. Originally, the stadium had a capacity of 12,000—the lower half of the current stadium's east grandstand. However, President Denny initially envisioned a full bowl stadium capable of seating 66,000.
Before the 1937 season, permanent seats were built along the east sideline, increasing the capacity to 24,000. Further expansions in 1946 (bleachers in both end zones), 1961 (new seats in west grandstand), and 1966 (both end zones fully enclosed, new seats in east grandstand) raised capacity to 31,000, 43,000, and 60,210, respectively. An upper deck was added to the west side in 1988 and raised the seating by nearly 10,000 to 70,123. During the construction, the Crimson Tide played its entire 1987 home schedule at Legion Field in Birmingham, northeast of Bryant–Denny.
East upper deck (1998) In September 1995, the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees approved the construction of the east upper deck. Designed by the architectural firm of Heery-Chambless-Adams, the construction was financed by the university and $4.65 million from the city of Tuscaloosa, the city of Northport, and Tuscaloosa County. The localities contributed to construction costs in return for the university pledging to move all Crimson Tide home games to Bryant–Denny and not play any at Legion Field.
The new upper deck provided 10,000 additional bleacher seats and 81 skyboxes on two levels—63 16-seat and 18 24-seat capacity boxes. In 1999, four additional skyboxes were built to bring the total number of skyboxes to 85. A JumboTron scoreboard with video display capabilities was erected in the south end zone and was at the time the largest in collegiate sports. Additionally, a new east side entrance tower, a brick facade and reception areas for the Scholarship and A-Club level patrons was also added during the 1998 expansion.
The stadium's eastern upper deck was opened in 1998 and raised its official seating capacity to 83,818 at a final cost of $35 million for the addition. The newly expanded venue debuted on September 5, and Alabama defeated BYU 38–31 as running back Shaun Alexander set a Tide single-game record with five touchdowns.
North end zone expansion (2006)
Following the 2004 season, the university spent approximately $47 million on an expansion to the north end zone, which was completed days before the 2006 opener against Hawaii. It added a new upper deck to the North end zone area, complete with three different levels of skyboxes, which collectively are known as "The Zone", which brought the number of skyboxes in the stadium to 123. Two large display screens by Daktronics were placed in each corner of the north end zone, and LCD ribbon screens, tall by wide, were placed along the front edge of the east and west upper decks.