Memorial Stadium is located on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, just north of downtown Lincoln, Nebraska. It is the home of the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team.

	Capacity		81,067
	Opened
	Owner		University of Nebraska–Lincoln
	Operator		University of Nebraska–Lincoln
	Surface		FieldTurf
	Location		10th St. & Stadium Dr. Lincoln, Nebraska 68508
	Construction cost		$430,000

The stadium holds an ongoing NCAA-record 279 consecutive sellout crowds; this streak began in 1962. When full, Memorial Stadium holds more people than any Nebraska city except Omaha and Lincoln, a fact that is often used not only to point out Nebraska’s relatively small population but also its devotion to Husker football. On September 2, 2006 a Memorial Stadium record crowd of 85,181 watched Nebraska play Louisiana Tech.

In the fall of 1922, a drive for $430,000 in funds to build a new football stadium was undertaken by faculty, students, alumni and friends of the university. The stadium was named Memorial Stadium to honor all Nebraskans who served in the Civil and Spanish-American Wars and the 751 Nebraskans who died in World War I. Later, the stadium would also honor the 3,839 Nebraskans who died in World War II; the 225 in Korea; and the 422 in Vietnam. Construction was completed in just over 90 working days; Memorial Stadium was dedicated on October 20, 1923.

Inscribed on the four corners of the stadium are the following words, written by former Nebraska professor of philosophy Hartley Burr Alexander:

* Southeast: “In Commemoration of the men of Nebraska who served and fell in the Nation’s Wars.”
* Southwest: “Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game; In the deed the glory.”
* Northwest: “Courage; Generosity; Fairness; Honor; In these are the true awards of manly sport.”
* Northeast: “Their Lives they held their countrys trust; They kept its faith; They died its heroes.”

Expansion

Memorial Stadium has undergone several phases of expansion and renovation since its original construction. In its original configuration, the stadium consisted of stands on the east and west sidelines; it was modeled after Ohio State’s Ohio Stadium; it had a seating capacity of around 31,000. (The east side is still in its original state; it has not been expanded, and the original architecture is still visible from the outside.) A series of four additions between 1964 and 1972 enclosed the stadium by adding seats above the north and south end zones, more than doubling Memorial Stadiums’s seating capacity to nearly 74,000. A major renovation in 1998 added 42 luxury boxes above the west stands; the stadium was rededicated and the playing surface was renamed after retiring coach Tom Osborne.

In 2004, construction began to renovate and expand the north end zone stands. Memorial Stadium now features an additional 13 luxury boxes above the north stands called the “Skyline Suites” and an additional 6,000 seats, increasing seating capacity to 81,067. This makes Memorial Stadium the fourth largest venue in the Big 12 Conference behind Texas’ at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium , Texas A&M’s Kyle Field and the Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Nebraska will have the second-largest video screen in college football, at 33 feet (10 m) tall and nearly 40 yards (37 m) wide. (When announced, the scoreboard was to be the largest in college football; since then, the “Godzillatron” was built at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium and it is larger, as is “Gigatron” at Kyle Field in College Station.) However, an unforseen problem came with the large Daktronics HDTV board: gnats and moths, which are drawn by the board’s light and wreak havoc on almost anyone at the stadium.

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