Bobby Dodd Stadium - History

History

Grant Field is the oldest continuously used on-campus site for college football in the Southern United States, and the oldest in the FBS.

Football has been played at the current site since 1905. In 1913, permanent grandstands were built for the first time, mostly by Tech students. It was originally named for Hugh Inman Grant, son of John W. Grant, a well-known Atlanta merchant and original benefactor of the stadium.

In 1988, it was renamed in honor of Bobby Dodd, the school's all-time winningest coach. The playing surface is still named Grant Field.

The stadium bears little, if any, resemblance to its original form, having been expanded many times. The original facility, roughly corresponding to the lower level of the current stadium's west grandstands, seated 5,600. The terrain in the area slopes upward from north to south, a slope very noticeable in the background of early photos, before the slopes were covered by the large stands built over them. Due to that natural grade, much of the field itself is below street level. The houses observable in the background of early photos were replaced by dormitory buildings in the 1930s.

By 1925, the east and south stands were completed, making the stadium a 30,000-seat horseshoe with an open north end. The west stands were rebuilt and a large press box was added in 1947, bringing capacity up to 44,000. The original all-steel 4,105-seat North stands were erected in 1958, and in 1962 and 1968 the upper decks were added to the East and West sides, respectively, bringing capacity to its all-time high of 58,121. In 1985 the South stands were razed to make room for the William C. Wardlaw Center, a modern field house and athletic office facility to replace the facilities in the old Heisman Gym, which was located just to the north of the stadium.

The current, modern west grandstand covers the old concrete one, which is still intact underneath. The high interstitial space is currently used for storage. Grant Field was occasionally used as a site for Atlanta Falcons games during the team's early years when it was sharing Fulton County Stadium with the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball and there were scheduling conflicts. The lighting was replaced in 1998.

Following the 2001 season, a major expansion and renovation project was started, which was done in two phases in order to play the 2002 season in the stadium. For the 2002 season, seating was returned to the South end in front of the Wardlaw Center, and the original North stands and lower east bleachers were rebuilt and bowled in. After the 2002 season, the expansion was completed by adding a massive free standing upper deck in the north end zone. This addition of a north end zone upper deck brought Bobby Dodd Stadium to its current capacity. The new stadium was rededicated during the 2003 home season opener versus the Auburn Tigers on September 2, 2003.

In the summer of 2009, Bobby Dodd Stadium underwent a number of changes. First, the scoreboard was renovated and after completion, is now twice as big as the old scoreboard. Also, ribbon boards were installed in front of the Wardlaw Center, as well as along the sides of the stadium. Another change was the improvement of the sound system in the stadium.