Husky Stadium - History

History

The original stadium--the lower portion of the current facility--was built by Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company in 1920 with a seating capacity of 30,000. The first game at the stadium was the final game of the 1920 season, a 28-7 loss to Dartmouth on November 27. Husky Stadium replaced Denny Field, which was located on the north end of upper campus, south of the intersection of NE 45th St. and 20th Ave. NE.

Husky Stadium has gone through four remodels (two major, two minor) to expand the seating capacity. Just three years after its construction, the stadium was the site of President Warren Harding's final address before his unexpected death. In 1936, 10,000 seats were added around the rim. In 1950, an upper deck of 15,000 covered seats was added to the south side - the new structure covered a portion of the lower seats.

In 1968, a few thousand more seats were added along the rim. In 1987, 13,000 covered seats were added with the upper deck on the north side. Similar to the south side with a cantilevered steel roof, this structure also covered a portion of the lower seats. The 1987 construction project made headlines in February when the first version of the grandstand collapsed.

Husky Stadium was a primary venue for the 1990 Goodwill Games, where the crowd saw an address by former President Ronald Reagan, as well as an address by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and a performance by the Moody Blues. The stadium hosted the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the track & field competition.

Following the ceiling tile incident at the Kingdome in July 1994, Husky Stadium was the temporary home of the Seattle Seahawks for five games (two pre-season and three regular season) in 1994. After the demolition of the Kingdome in March 2000, the Seahawks played at Husky Stadium for two seasons, 2000 and 2001, then moved into Seahawks Stadium (now CenturyLink Field) for the 2002 season.

The playing field at Husky Stadium was originally dirt, replaced with natural grass in 1938. In 1968, Washington became one of the first major college team to play on AstroTurf; at the time the Houston Astrodome and Neyland Stadium at Tennessee were the only major facilities to use the surface. The AstroTurf at Husky Stadium was replaced in 1972, 1977, 1987, and 1995. The next generation of synthetic turf, FieldTurf, was installed in 2000, paid for by the Seattle Seahawks. The first of its kind in the NFL, the surface was so popular with the players that the Seahawks, who had planned to use natural grass at Qwest Field, instead installed their own FieldTurf surface in the new stadium. The university replaced the field after nine seasons in 2009.

In addition to the new playing surface, other improvements were made to the stadium by the Seahawks before it became an NFL venue for two seasons. A larger scoreboard, with a 23' x 42' "HuskyTron" video screen, debuted in 1998. Improved lighting for television, including corner lights, was added in 1999, and official NFL goalposts (optic yellow, 40' (12.2 m) in height) were installed in 2000.

During the 1980s and early 1990s the end zones were painted gold. Starting in 1995 the endzones became purple, then were changed to natural green in 2000 with the FieldTurf installation. This last lasted until 2009 when the endzones reverted to gold. Purple end zones saw a return in the 2010 season. During the November 18th, 2010 game against UCLA the endzones were painted black to coincide with the Huskies' first "blackout".