Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium

Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, also known as Owen Field or The Palace on the Prairie, is the football stadium on the campus of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, US. It serves as the home of the Oklahoma Sooners football team. The official seating capacity of the stadium, following renovations before the start of the 2019 season, is 80,126, making it the 41st largest stadium in the world, the 15th largest college stadium in the United States and the ninth largest in the Southeastern Conference. Until 1925 seating consisted of an approximately 500-seat bleacher area on the east side. The first permanent seating was built in 1925, when 16,000 seats were built on the west side of the site–corresponding to the lower level of the current facility's west grandstands. The new stadium was named "Oklahoma Memorial Stadium" in honor of university students and personnel who died during World War I. The facility was constructed at an approximate cost of $293,000, and coach Bennie Owen helped raise the money; the playing surface was named Owen Field after him during the 1920s. The stadium as a whole has long been called Owen Field, but the field and the stadium are actually two separate entities with different names.

More permanent seating was added, this time to the east side, in 1929. In 1949, the north end of the stadium was enclosed, the playing area was lowered six feet with the elimination of the running track around the field.

In the fall of 1981, OU and the University of Georgia sued the NCAA in federal court in Oklahoma City. In this class-action lawsuit on behalf of members of the College Football Association, the two schools alleged that the NCAA's contracts with ABC, NBC, and CBS violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by preventing colleges and conferences from selling their own product on the open market. The court agreed with the schools in 1982 and voided the NCAA's television contracts. The return to natural grass in 1994 and the lighting and scoreboard installation in 1997 were the only major improvements to the stadium for nearly 20 years. The OU College of Architecture was housed under the west stands and in the north end zone, until other facilities became available in 1990. The east stands still had the original dirt flooring underneath the stands, making for a cloudy, dusty walk into the student and visitor seating sections. Restrooms were old and inadequate; paint was peeling off external walls and the areas under the stands (the east side in particular) were dark and smelled dusty.

Plans began in 1997 to upgrade most athletic department facilities, beginning with a five-year fundraising campaign. Then, unexpectedly, the Sooners won the BCS National Championship for the 2000 season. The university began to get more freshman applications than it could house due in large part to the football team's success. Along with other campus improvements such as more and better student housing, the refurbishment and expansion plan for the stadium was accelerated to be ready by the beginning of the 2003 season.

$12 million toward the $75 million cost of the stadium project was donated by Christy Gaylord Everest, then publisher of The Oklahoman and daughter of Edward K. Gaylord, in 2002. The stadium was renamed to its current name in honor of this gift. In Barry Switzer's 16 seasons as the Oklahoma Sooners head football coach, the team won three national championships, 12 Big Eight Conference championships and eight bowl games in 13 appearances.

Mural

Artist Ted Watts completed a mural in the Barry Switzer Center in December 1998, and updated the mural to include later accomplishments in 2002, 2005 and 2009. Subjects included:

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|colspan="7" align="center"|Barry Switzer Center Mural Subject List

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Legendary coaches

John A. Harts
Bennie Owen
Lawrence "Biff" Jones
Jim Tatum
Bud Wilkinson
Barry Switzer
Bob Stoops

Heisman Trophy Winners

Billy Vessels, 1952
Steve Owens, 1969
Billy Sims, 1978
Jason White, 2003
Sam Bradford, 2008
Baker Mayfield, 2017
Kyler Murray, 2018

Other National Award Winners

J. D. Roberts
Jim Weatherall
Keith Jackson
Lee Roy Selmon
Tony Casillas
Greg Roberts
Rickey Dixon
Roy Williams
Brian Bosworth
Rocky Calmus
Anthony Phillips
Tommie Harris
Teddy Lehman
Derrick Strait
Jammal Brown

College Football Hall of Fame

Claude Reeds
Forest "Spot" Geyer
Jim Owens
Tommy McDonald
Roland "Waddy" Young
Jerry Tubbs
Greg Pruitt
Kurt Burris

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Three-Time All-Americans

Paul "Buddy" Burris
Rod Shoate

Four-Time All-Conference

Wade Walker
Darrell Reed

Statistical Leaders

Joe Washington
Eddie Hinton
Darrell Royal
Daryl Hunt
Jackie Shipp

Special Sooners

Prentice Gautt
Cale Gundy
Bob Kalsu
Dewey Selmon
Lucious Selmon
Tinker Owens

NCAA Record 47-Game Win Streak

Jimmy Harris
Billy Pricer
Clendon Thomas
Tommy McDonald

Split-T Option

Tom Catlin
Eddie Crowder
Buck McPhail
Buddy Leake

Wishbone Triggermen

Jack Mildren
Steve Davis
Thomas Lott
J. C. Watts
Danny Bradley
Jamelle Holieway

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Special

Uwe von Schamann's Kick
Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
National Championship Billboard
The Orange Bowl
Big 8 Conference
The Cotton Bowl
Red River Shootout Brass Hat Trophy
College Football Hall of Fame Logo
Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band
Spirit Squad
Fans
Jumbotron
AFCA National Championship Trophy
Heisman Trophy
Outland Trophy
Lombardi Award
Butkus Award
Jim Thorpe Award
Bronko Nagurski Trophy
NCAA Top Six Award
National Championship Rings
Bowl Championship Trophies
The Sooner Schooner
RUF/NEKS
"Mex" the dog

National Championships

1950
1955
1956
1974
1975
1985
2000

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Recent innovations and future plans

thumb|The north end zone scoreboard, installed prior to the 2007 season, replaced an older matrix-type messageboard

In a February 2007 radio interview, OU Athletic Director Joe Castiglione said that a new stadium master plan was in development. Castiglione spoke about replacing the press box and expanding the south end zone seating but gave no timetable or other details.

The improvements include the installation of a state-of-the-art Daktronics 16mm HD-ready video replay board in the north end zone, which replaced an older matrix messageboard, and digital 23mm LED ribbon displays along the edges of both upper decks, the north end zone, and the north tunnel entrances. Eight new concession stands were added, along with more than 60 new toilets in the women's restrooms, 30 new water fountains, handrails on all aisles of the upper decks, new speakers in all restrooms, and a new public address system.

Phase two replaced the obsolete displays and sound system of the Lloyd Noble Center. The final phase was completed prior to the 2008 season and included replacement of the stadium's south scoreboard and sound system within the existing structure. The new displays are compatible with high-definition television equipment, although no HD cameras were purchased during the project.

On March 10, 2015, the University of Oklahoma board of regents approved the initial construction of "Phase 1" to renovate Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. The renovation is expected to cost approximately $160 million and anticipated completion is just prior to the start of the 2016 football season. Due to uncertain economic conditions, the board of regents decided to start with "Phase 1" (which will focus primarily on the south endzone, football offices, training center and weight room), and proceed to "Phase 2" (which will focus on the west side of the stadium, including the press box, club seats and new facade. As well as various improvements to restrooms, escalators and concessions) at a later date, when the economic conditions have improved. The first phase of construction will bowl in the south endzone, and bring the total capacity to 83,489.

Timeline of seating capacity

16,000 (1925–1928)
32,000 (1929–1948)
55,647 (1949–1956)
61,724 (1957–1962)
61,836 (1963–1974)
71,187 (1975–1979)
75,008 (1980–1983)
75,004 (1984–1997)
72,765 (1998–2002)
81,207 (2003)
82,112 (2004–2015)
86,112 (2016–2018)
80,126 (2019–present)

Attendance records

The following are the largest crowds in the history of the stadium.

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|1|| November 11, 2017 || 88,308 || #6 TCU || #5 || W, 38–20

|2|| September 17, 2016 || 87,979 || #3 Ohio State || #14 || L, 45–24

|3|| November 10, 2018 || 87,635 || Oklahoma State || #6 || W, 48–47

|4|| December 3, 2016 || 87,527 || #10 Oklahoma State || #9 || W, 38–20

|5|| September 22, 2018 || 87,177 || Army || #5 || W, 28–21 OT

|6|| September 10, 2016 || 87,037 || Louisiana-Monroe || #14 || W, 59–17

|7|| September 29, 2018 || 86,642 || Baylor || #6 || W, 66–33

|8|| September 8, 2018 || 86,483 || UCLA || #6 || W, 49–21

|9|| October 27, 2018 || 86,436 || Kansas State || #8 || W, 51–14

|10|| September 1, 2018 || 86,402 || Florida Atlantic || #7 || W, 63–14

References

External links

Official McClendon Center information page
University of Oklahoma Western History Collections – Memorial Stadium and Owen Field photographs from 1929 to present
Google 3D Warehouse geo-referenced model of Memorial Stadium for Google SketchUp and/or Google Earth at Google 3D Warehouse
Voices of Oklahoma interview with Barry Switzer. First person interview conducted on August 17, 2009 with Barry Switzer. Original audio and transcript archived with Voices of Oklahoma oral history project.

Mural

Recent innovations and future plans

Timeline of seating capacity

Attendance records

See also

References

External links