California Memorial Stadium (also known simply and commonly as Memorial Stadium or CMS) is an outdoor college football stadium located on the campus of the University of California in Berkeley, California, United States. It is the home field for the California Golden Bears of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Opened in 1923, the venue currently seats around 63,000 for football; its playing field runs northwest to southeast at an approximate elevation of above sea level. It has been named one of the top college football stadiums by various publications,' and it was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on November 27, 2006.

Memorial Stadium was funded from public contributions, as a memorial to Californians who lost their lives in World War I (1917–18). The chair of the architectural committee was John Galen Howard, the university's chief architect, and his influence is evident in the stadium's neoclassical motif. In addition to its unique architecture, the stadium's position at the foot of the Berkeley Hills provides top row spectators with panoramic views of San Francisco Bay and west side viewers with views of the Berkeley Hills and Strawberry Canyon. This has earned it a reputation as one of the most scenic venues in college football.

Traditionally, during all football games and especially during the Big Game against Stanford, the hill overlooking the eastern side of Memorial Stadium attracts spectators hoping to watch a game for free, earning the nickname "Tightwad Hill".

Before Memorial Stadium

West Field

On February 14, 1885, the first football game was played on the University of California campus between the hometown Bears and a football club from San Francisco known as the Merions. The field was located where the Valley Life Sciences Building currently stands (), and the game drew some 450 spectators. In subsequent years, the field was officially named West Field and seating capacity was expanded to around 5,000. However, by 1904, California's football team had become so popular that West Field became too small, therefore, the university decided to build a new stadium with an excess of 20,000 seats.

California Field

California Field opened its doors in 1904 to replace the antiquated West Field and the boosted capacity allowed California to host important games for the first time. While playing at West Field, the Bears played important games (namely the Big Game) at neutral site venues in San Francisco and with a new over 20,000-seat stadium, California was able to host the first Big Game played outside of San Francisco. The new stadium was located much closer to the center of campus (where Hearst Gymnasium now stands) and was able to draw unprecedented crowds for the time. California Field is also notable because it is where many of California's longstanding traditions began to take form. In 1910, the first card stunt was performed at the Big Game and after victories, the students would "serpentine" around the field—something that is mentioned in the song "Big C". California Field is also where the Golden Bears gained national prominence under head coach Andrew Latham Smith. Four of the Bears' five consecutive undefeated seasons were played at California Field; the stadium was home to three of California's four straight claimed national championships. Because of this success, it became evident that California needed an even larger venue to host its football team; therefore, the team and its fans began pushing for a new stadium. The capacity of the refurbished stadium is now 63,186, and was sold out for the first game of the 2012 season in a 31-24 Cal loss against the University of Nevada Wolf Pack.

Capacity

thumb|right|250px|Satellite view, November 2008

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! scope="row" style=""| Years

! scope="row" style=""| Capacity

|-

! scope="row" style=""|2024–present

| 52,428 (expandable to 62,467)

|-

! scope="row" style=""|2022-2023

| 51,892 (expandable to 62,467)

|-

! scope="row" style=""|2013–2021

| 62,467

|-

! scope="row" style=""|2012

| 63,186

|-

! scope="row" style=""|2008–2010

| 71,799

|-

! scope="row" style=""|2006–2007

| 72,516

|-

! scope="row" style=""|2003–2005

| 67,537 (expandable to 72,516)

|-

! scope="row" style=""|2002

| 73,347

|-

! scope="row" style=""|1998–2001

| 75,028

|-

! scope="row" style=""|1996–1997

| 74,909

|-

! scope="row" style=""|1982–1995

| 75,662

|-

! scope="row" style=""|1961–1981

| 76,780

|-

! scope="row" style=""|1951–1960

| 81,490

|-

! scope="row" style=""|1949–1950

| 80,239

|-

! scope="row" style=""|1938–1948

| 80,000

|-

! scope="row" style=""|1937

| 77,963

|-

! scope="row" style=""|1927–1936

| 78,461

|-

! scope="row" style=""|1926

| 78,671

|-

! scope="row" style=""|1923–1925

| 72,609

|}

Other major events

California Memorial Stadium has seen a number of major events throughout the years other than California football. Before 1970, the general commencement exercises of the University of California were regularly held at Memorial Stadium. The large campus-wide commencement, however, was cancelled in 1970 because of the many protests that were taking place at the time—university officials at the time did not see it wise to have such a large gathering annually with the protests going on. General Commencements have since returned to the University of California campus, with the exercises being performed at Memorial Stadium, Haas Pavilion, Hearst Greek Theatre, and most recently Edwards Stadium. On March 23, 1962, to commemorate Charter Day (the anniversary of the founding of the University of California), President John F. Kennedy gave a speech at Memorial Stadium in front of an above capacity crowd of 88,000.

Soccer

Real Madrid and Inter Milan played at Memorial Stadium on July 26, 2014, one of their matches in the 2014 International Champions Cup. The match, played before a sold-out crowd of 62,583, ended in a 1–1 tie after regulation and Inter Milan won the shootout 3–2. The usual artificial turf was converted and this match was played on natural grass.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left; width:95%;" style="text-align:center"

|-

!style=";"|Date

!style=";"|Winning Team

!style=";"|Result

!style=";"|Losing Team

!style=";"|Tournament

!style=";"|Spectators

|-

| July 26, 2014 || Inter Milan || 1–1<br> || Real Madrid || 2014 International Champions Cup || 62,583

|}

Oakland Raiders

The NFL's Oakland Raiders played their second game of the 1973 regular season at Memorial Stadium. The game against the defending Super Bowl champion Miami Dolphins was moved from the Raiders' regular home, the Oakland Coliseum, because of a scheduling conflict with the Oakland Athletics, who hosted the Minnesota Twins at the Coliseum the following night. The Raiders ended the Dolphins' NFL record 18-game winning streak with a 12–7 victory on four field goals by 45-year-old George Blanda on September 23. Several preseason games were also played at the stadium in the early 1970s.

Ultimately, in response to traffic and parking issues associated with these games (while Cal games drew a large number of students who live on or near campus and walk to the games, Raider games attracted fans from a larger geographic area who were used to tailgating at the Coliseum and were more likely to drive to games), the City of Berkeley passed a Professional Sports Events License Tax in which the city collected 10% of all gate receipts, making the staging of professional games inside the city cost-prohibitive. The Raiders were granted an injunction from the city collecting the tax, arguing that the tax was a regulatory measure rather than a revenue measure, and was therefore an improper regulation on land held in trust by the Regents of the University of California. However, the grant of the injunction was reversed by the California Court of Appeals, who found it to be a revenue measure, despite the fact that the city had made the measure immediately effective "due to danger to the public peace, health, and safety of the City of Berkeley as a result of the holding of professional sports events there."

Playing surface

Originally a natural grass field, AstroTurf was installed in Memorial Stadium in 1981 and remained for fourteen seasons. Natural grass returned in 1995, and varsity football practices were held at Witter Rugby Field, saving the stadium's grass field for game days only. In 2003, Momentum Turf, an infilled artificial turf similar to FieldTurf, was installed. where right-lateral strike-slip motion is shifting the east half of the building to the south at a rate of 1.2&nbsp;mm/yr; during its construction, expansion joints had been placed in the walls of the stadium to maintain the integrity of the building. Because the stadium is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and because of the nostalgia that surrounds the site, the university decided that a retrofit and renovation (as opposed to building a new stadium elsewhere) would be the best scenario for the California football program. In February 2005, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau announced plans to renovate Memorial Stadium, improving the existing facilities and creating a safer environment for the fans as well as the people that work at the stadium. HNTB Architecture and STUDIOS Architecture were the architects for the renovation of the stadium and the new Simpson Center for Student-Athlete High Performance.

Phase I

Phase I consisted of building the Simpson Center for Student-Athlete High Performance next to the west wall of the stadium. The center was built to be the home of football and 12 of California's Olympic sports that were previously housed in Memorial Stadium. The center saw the construction of new locker rooms, offices meeting rooms, training and sports medicine facilities, and an academic center in the SAHPC. The roof of the athletic center also acts as a pedestrian plaza. Phase I of the renovations were originally scheduled to begin the spring and summer of 2006 but was delayed by a court injunction due to three lawsuits against the project. A small group of tree-sitters occupied the oak grove on the west side of the stadium beginning on the "Big Game" day in December 2006 but in September 2008 the court injunction was lifted, the protesters came down, and construction of the athletic center began. The Simpson Center for Student-Athlete High Performance (originally SAHPC) opened in the Fall of 2011 and became 100% operational in January 2012.

Phase II

thumb|right|Progress of the refurbishing after the final football game in December 2010, from [[Tightwad Hill]]

On Sept. 17, 2009, the UC Board of Regents approved the retrofit and renovation of California Memorial Stadium. The $321 million project commenced in June 2010 and was completed in time for the 2012 season. The Bears played at AT&T Park in San Francisco for the 2011 season while the renovations were being made.

The west side of the stadium was demolished and rebuilt except for the outer wall. Club levels, a new press box, bathrooms and concession stands were added. The surface of the field was lowered four feet to improve the view from the lowest midfield seats on the west side, which previously were blocked by standing visiting team members.

A surface rupture block was placed in each end zone where the fault line passes through the stadium. These blocks can move independently from the rest of the stadium and were built on top of three feet of sand and plastic sheets. Expansion joints were placed between the surface rupture blocks and the rest of the stadium.

Phase III

Phase III of the Memorial Stadium renovation and retrofit is the renovation of the stadium's east side by adding modern amenities to that side of the stadium. Originally, this part of the project was to begin in the Fall of 2009, but because of the delay of phase II, the east side's improvements have been delayed indefinitely. The eventual improvements on the east side of the stadium called for an extension of the concourse to wrap around the stadium, new restrooms, ADA seating, and vendors.

Renovation financing

thumb|right|Construction progress in June 2011

For the stadium's $321 million renovation and new $153 million Student-Athlete High Performance Center, the university incurred a controversial $445 million of debt, which it planned to finance with the sale of special stadium seats in the Endowment Seating Program.

The renovation financial plan

was approved by the Regents on Sept. 17, 2009. It established “debt service to be structured to defer principal until the 21st year”

He further calculated that although $215 million had been claimed to have been raised as of January 15, 2010, the true figure was closer to only about $20 million as of December 2010.

His calculations were subsequently corroborated by the Wall Street Journal, which reported in April 2012 that only $31 million had been received as of the end of December 2011; this was followed by further reporting of poor seat sales in the Endowment Seating Program. As of June 30, 2016, the fund balance was $60.98 million, far short of the $215 million that had been claimed five years earlier.

In early 2013, the debt was restructured with the thirty year plan that the Regents had approved in September 2009 exploding to a one-hundred year plan involving Century bonds. Specifically, the debt is structured as interest-only annual payments for the first twenty years, at roughly $18 million per year, followed by principal repayment which will begin in 2032 with the annual debt payment rising to about $26 million per year, then about $28 million in 2033, the about $30 million per year for 2034–2038, and about $37 million per year for 2039–2044. The debt payments are scheduled to continue for 100 years from its 2013 inception, concluding in 2113.

On November 3, 2017, Chancellor Carol Christ announced that the university would overtake the earthquake retrofitting expenses part of the renovation. This amount is estimated to be approximately 60 percent of the total expenses or $200 million with the remaining expenses still being retained by the athletic department. Exactly where in the budget the funds would be taken was not announced, although the chancellor did state that they would not be taken out of student tuition or tax-payer funds for the university. It was not ruled out that the money could be taken out of funds for academic departments.

Renovated California Memorial Stadium: 2012–present

Opening ceremony

thumb|right|The stadium during the 2012 football season

The University of California reopened the stadium on September 1, 2012, for a home football game against the University of Nevada. This was the first football game in Berkeley since the end of the 2010 season. The sellout crowd of 63,186 watched the Nevada Wolf Pack spoil the grand re-opening with a 31–24 victory, Cal's first loss to Nevada at home since before the original stadium opened in 1923. There were many noticeable differences between the new, more modern stadium and the old stadium that closed in 2010. Except the historic façade, the entire west side of the stadium was demolished, allowing the university to make the venue seismically safe, and add modern amenities. Most noticeable changes included club seating, along with a new pressbox, atop the western stands. The east side, however, has remained relatively unchanged. The stadium was originally dedicated to the memory of those Californians that were lost in World War I, and on October 6, 2012, the university rededicated California Memorial Stadium in the memory of all Californians who sacrificed their lives in service to the nation.

Capacity

Because of the inclusion of seat back and bench back seating in the same footprint as before, the renovation and retrofit reduced the seating capacity by around 10,000 seats. Original estimates stated that the official stadium capacity would be around 63,000–65,000, down from the 71,799 capacity that Memorial Stadium had in 2010. Capacity at the beginning of the 2012 season ended up at 63,186. Since 2022, the four southernmost sections have been tarped off, and a terrace was built in the middle, connected to the concourse.

2012–present: 63,186

Playing surface

The playing field was lowered to improve sight lines, In 2017, the playing surface was changed to FieldTurf as part of Cal's transition to its new partnership with Under Armour. at the time the largest naming rights agreement in the history of college athletics. Under the agreement, the field was called Kabam Field at California Memorial Stadium. In July 2017, Kabam pulled out of the deal. Under the agreement the field was known officially as FTX Field at California Memorial Stadium. In November 2022, the deal was suspended and FTX's logo was removed from the field surface amid FTX's bankruptcy.

<gallery>

File:Calbearzy.jpg|View northwest, with Sather Tower in the distance

File:California memorial stadium view from the north.jpg|West side of the stadium, view from the north

File:California Memorial Stadium northern gate.jpg|Northern gate

File:Touchdowns from Tightwad - Flickr - Joe Parks.jpg|View from Tightwad Hill

File:Hayward fault separation Memorial Stadium.jpg|Hayward fault wall separation

File:California Memorial Stadium concourse.jpg|Concourse

File:Tightwad Hill.jpg|Tightwad Hill

File:University of California Berkeley aerial view by drone.jpg|Aerial view from southeast

</gallery>

See also

  • California Field
  • List of NCAA Division I FBS football stadiums

References

  • The Campaign for Student Athletes - California Memorial Stadium
  • Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) - Memorial Stadium information
  • World Stadiums.com - photos - Memorial Stadium
  • msrmaps.com - satellite color photo (2004) (& USGS topo map) - UC-Berkeley campus