Notre Dame Stadium - History

History

The stadium opened its gates in 1930, replacing the old stadium Cartier Field. Total cost of construction was more than $750,000. The original seating capacity was 54,000. Head coach Knute Rockne played a key role in its design, keeping the space between the playing field and the stands to a minimum. The stadium is patterned, on a smaller scale, after Michigan Stadium, the main difference being the tunnel location. In 1929 plans were started by Osborn Engineering of Cleveland, Ohio. They were selected for their experience in designing Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park. The original stadium held 59,075 people, measured a half-mile in circumference, stood 45 feet high, and featured a glass-enclosed press box rising 60 feet above ground level. The building was built by the Sollitt Construction Company of South Bend. They began earth preparation in the fall of 1929, but due to an unusually cold fall and winter, above ground construction did not begin until April 2, 1930. This building was effectively built in six months. Over two million bricks were used in the construction of the walls and the concrete was placed in a monolithic continuous placement by section. There were over 300 workers on the site at most times and they worked five 10 hour days and one six hour day on Saturdays. The average worker was paid one dollar a day plus lunch with the more skilled workers earning up to five dollars a day.

The construction of the stadium project was brought to a head by the actions of Knute Rockne. 1928 had not been a stellar year for the football team, however the 1928 net profits from football for that season approached $500,000. Rockne was frustrated with the slow and cautious Holy Cross Priests and their decision making process about spending money on the new stadium. Rockne could not believe that a decision could not be made when there was such a large amount of money in the bank. Because of this and a number of other issues Rockne submitted his resignation to Father O’Donnell, the President of the University. O’Donnell knew of Rockne’s history of submitting his resignations and he also knew that nothing would ever completely satisfy Rockne. O’Donnell was willing to find a compromise but was also unwilling to put the university in debt to finance the stadium. O’Donnell knew that the excess receipts from 1928 season and the projected receipts from playing all the away games in 1929 on neutral fields would bring adequate cash into the university to finance the construction of the Stadium. O’Donnell also devised the scheme to finance 240 six person “reserved box seats”. This precursor of the Personal Seat License would allow the buyer to purchase tickets at face value and guarantee the same prime location for 10 years for an investment of $3000 between the 45 yard lines, $2500 between the 45 and 35 yard line and $2000 between the 35 and the 25 yard line. The university raised over $150,000 on this idea alone.

The Irish played their first game in the new stadium on October 4, 1930, beating SMU 20–14. The official dedication was on October 11 against Navy. Over the years, its capacity was gradually increased to 59,075, mainly by changing the average seat size from 18 inches in width to 17 inches. In 1997, 21,000 new seats were added to the stadium, bringing the seating capacity to the present 80,795. The playing surface has always been natural grass.