Doak S. Campbell Stadium

Doak S. Campbell Stadium is one of the more famous football stadiums in college football. Named after former Florida State President Doak S. Campbell, the Seminoles played their first game at the stadium on October 7, 1950 against Randolph Macon. Originally the stadium’s seating capacity was 15,000 with seating on both sides of the field, and was built at a cost of $250,000. The stadium was expanded numerous times and by 1970 the seating capacity rose to 40,500. Additional renovations occurred in 1982 and in the early to mid 1990’s. The north endzone consisted of wood bleachers until the 1994 season. Today, Doak Campbell Stadium has a capacity of 82,300, and the attendance record was set against Miami in 2005 with a crowd of 84,347 on hand. Doak Campbell Stadium is an intimidating environment for opposing teams and housed a 10-year, 54-game unbeaten streak and helped the Seminoles to 25 straight bowl appearances. A single tier grandstand encloses Bobby Bowden Field. The building of the south end zone contains a food court, restaurant, sports grill, and the Florida State school of hospitality education. Located on the rim on the north end zone are football offices that overlook the field. These offices are just part of the Daisy Parker Flory wing of the Moore Athletic Center. Luxury suites and the press box are also located along the rim of the stadium. The newest structural portions of “The Doak” are a second deck of the Varsity Club in the northwest corner of the stadium and additional Skyboxes leased through Seminole Boosters in the northeast corner of the stadium. The seventh floor of the west addition is the President’s Level and includes an open air terrace in the northwest corner and one of the largest press boxes in college football with seating for over 250 members of the media.In March 2004, a brand new playing surface was completed and the entire field was sodded with 419 Tiftway Bermuda. The entire floor of the stadium was excavated 18 inches deep and the old pump drainage system was replaced with a complete wall-to-wall system built exactly to USGA golf green standards. On November 20th of the same year, Bobby Bowden field was dedicated, thus changing the venue’s name to Bobby Bowden Field at Doak S. Campbell Stadium. A brick facade surrounds the stadium, matching the architectural design of most of the buildings on the university’s campus. The University Center surrounds the stadium and houses numerous offices that were formerly located on the interior of the FSU campus. Doak S. Campbell Stadium houses one of the more recognized traditions in all of collegiate sports with Chief Osceola and Renegade planting of the spear at midfield. Few stadiums in the South can get as noisy as Doak Campbell during a rivalry game.