They’re big, they’re bold, they’re beautiful. Enormity of the grandest scale possible, impressive to look at and, more often than not, the bleachers are full to capacity for practically every game. Venues that must be visited to be experienced at least once in your lifetime, if not more; these are currently the top 5 biggest stadiums in college football.
5. Tiger Stadium – LSU Tigers
The first venue on our list is home to the Louisiana State University Tigers, tipped as +700 shots to win the NCAA Championship according to the latest American football odds for the 2019 season. Opened in 1924, the current 102,321 capacity makes Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge the fifth-largest stadium in the NCAA this year and the sixth-largest in the world.
Known as “Death Valley” since 1959 for being one of the most difficult and fearsome venues for visiting teams, Tiger Stadium has also frequently been called “Deaf Valley” due to the crowd noise. Given the latest American football odds value LSU at +700 for the NCAA Championship this year, fans certainly have plenty to cheer about right now.
4. Neyland Stadium – Tennessee Volunteers
Like many of the great venues featured in this list, the Nyland Stadium has undergone a wide variety of expansions and renovations over the years, since its original opening back in 1921. The latest of these upgrades was completed in 2010, when work on the Tennessee terrace raised the overall size of this college football stadium to the current 102,455 official capacity venue.
The stadium is named after Robert Neyland, an iconic coach who led the football team at the University of Tennessee in three spells between 1926 and 1952, which also coincided with the most successful periods in the history of the Volunteers. Renowned for his “speed over strength philosophy, an impressive 9-foot bronze statue located between gates 15A and 17 at the stadium commemorates Neyland’s achievements.
3. Kyle Field – Texas A&M Aggies
They sometimes say that everything is bigger in Texas and, back in 2014, the official size of Kyle Field was indeed made bigger and able to hold a capacity crowd of 106,511 fans in 2019, making this venue the third-largest in the United States at the time. However, this was also at the conclusion of a massive project in 2013 and 2014 when the venue was practically rebuilt from the ground up.
Known as the “Home of the 12th Man” for the habitually passionate support, it’s also a historic reference to 1922 student E. King Gill. When the Aggies were short of players for the Dixie Classic that year, Gill stepped down from the bleachers, donned the team uniform and stood ready to help his team in their hour of need. Although he didn’t actually play in the end, his actions remain a symbolic gesture that Aggies fans will do anything to aid their team.
2. Beaver Stadium – Penn State Nittany Lions
The current venue as it stands was opened in 1960 and has undergone several expansions over the last few decades, although some original parts of this enormous venue date back to 1909 and previous constructions on the same site. At present, the seating capacity of 106,572 makes the Beaver Stadium the third-largest stadium in the world.
Fondly known as “The White House” amongst college football fans, the biggest ever crowd of 110,889 was recorded in 2018, as the Penn State Nittany Lions took on the Ohio State Buckeyes. Voted as the 2019 Ultimate Stadium in a USA Today poll, the Beaver Stadium is hugely popular amongst home and visiting fans alike thanks to the great atmosphere at games.
1. Michigan Stadium – Michigan Wolverines
They really don’t come any bigger than this in the USA. Originally built in 1927 and still going strong, boasting an immense capacity of 107,601 in 2019, this venue is called “The Big House” for good reason. The stadium at Ann Arbor is also the second-largest in the entire world, only surpassed by the current 114,000 capacity of the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium in North Korea.
The home of the Michigan Wolverines, every one of their home games since 1975 has attracted crowds of well over 100,000 spectators. The biggest recorded attendance at the venue was for a game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in 2013, when over 115,000 fans packed the bleachers of the Michigan Stadium, thousands beyond the official capacity at the time.
Stacking up the numbers
Some avid readers may look at the numbers we’ve quoted and beg to differ with our rankings of the top 5 college football stadiums, possibly because Wikipedia says different. However, these numbers are taken from the official ncaa.com website for the 2019 season, which in turn, are also quoted by each of the school’s official athletics websites.
