Memorial Stadium (University of Minnesota)


Memorial Stadium, also known as the "Brick House", was an outdoor athletic stadium in the north central United States, located on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. It was the home of the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team for 58 seasons, from 1924 through 1981. Prior to 1924, the Gophers played at Northrop Field.
Starting in 1982, the Gophers played their home games in the new Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, and Memorial Stadium was demolished a decade later. After 27 seasons indoors, the Gophers returned to campus in 2009 at the new Huntington Bank Stadium, a block from the site of Memorial Stadium.

History

Opened on October 14, 1924, the stadium was dedicated to the 3,527 students, graduates, and workers who served in World War I, which had ended six years earlier. It sat on approximately.
While Memorial Stadium was its home, the football team won six national championships, including three consecutive. The championship years were 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, and 1960. The official capacity of the stadium during the 1970s was listed as 56,652. From the 1940s onward, temporary bleachers were occasionally brought in to boost capacity to approximately 66,000, though many of the seats were far away from the field. The stadium's attendance record was 66,284, set in 1961 against Purdue on November 18.
Memorial Stadium also served as the university's track and field venue, and was an occasional back-up venue for professional football and soccer. In 1969, the NFL's Minnesota Vikings played a regular season game on October 5 against the Green Bay Packers at Memorial Stadium. It was due to a conflict with a [1969 Minnesota 1981 Minnesota Twins season|Twins season|Minnesota Twins] playoff game at Metropolitan Stadium, game three of the 1969 American League Championship Series the following day. The Vikings also played a pre-season game at Memorial in 1971, its second season with artificial turf. The artificial Tartan Turf was removed after seven seasons and returned to natural grass in 1977.
The Minnesota Kicks soccer team of the NASL played once at Memorial Stadium, a 1981 playoff game on September 6 against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers and lost 3–0. The game was moved due to a schedule conflict with the Twins at Met Stadium. It was the last game in Kicks' history.
Ancel Keys founded the Laboratory of Physiological Hygiene underneath Memorial Stadium, on the ground floor accessed at Gate 27. Here thirty-six conscientious objectors were confined during the yearlong Minnesota Starvation Experiment.
Memorial Stadium served as the anchor for Stadium Village, a small commercial area at the southeast portion of the Twin Cities campus.

Move to Metrodome 1982

Pressured by downtown Minneapolis business interests and athletic boosters, the school elected to move out of the stadium to the new Metrodome, about away, during the spring of 1982. Athletic director Paul Giel cited the advantages of recruiting by playing in a new NFL venue. Also, the attendance was expected to go up in the late fall with protection from harsh weather.
Memorial Stadium had been neglected by that time, and was badly in need of renovation. New head coach Lou Holtz gave an impassioned speech when the time came in 1984 to decide whether to remain at the Metrodome, and declared that "Athletes want to play at the Dome."

University Aquatic center

Following the move, the University of Minnesota proposed a new natatorium that would extend into the field at the open end of the horseshoe and ensure that there could be no return to Memorial Stadium. After legal challenges to halt construction of the natatorium failed, the Aquatic Center opened in 1990 and the stadium was torn down two years later. The original brick entrance arch was preserved, and when the McNamara Alumni Center was built on the same site it was installed in the interior atrium over the entrance to a small museum.

Aftermath

The move to the Metrodome proved to be a dismal failure in the long run, as Gophers home games lost the charm of being on a college campus. The Gophers had the lowest priority in scheduling, behind the Twins and Vikings, and had to move games if the Twins were in the baseball playoffs. The university also gave up most concession and parking revenue, although their portion of the rent was the lowest of the three Metrodome tenants.
On May 20, 2006, the state legislature passed a bill providing funding for a new on-campus stadium. It opened in the fall of 2009 as TCF Bank Stadium. The original Memorial Stadium site could not be used, due to the construction of the aquatic and alumni centers. The new stadium is located about a block from where the old stadium once stood and was designed so that the alumni center on the old site is visible through the open end of the horseshoe.

Attendance

YearTotalGamesSeason highestAverage
1924139,7726Illinois 23,297
1925193,7077Notre Dame 27,672
1926156,0325Michigan 31,206
1927166,8485Wisconsin 23,126
1928146,1855Chicago 29,237
1929204,0836Michigan 34,014
1930167,7286Northwestern 27,955
1931115,6315Wisconsin 23,126
1932113,9565Northwestern 43,557
1933164,3016Iowa 27,384
1934192,9225Michigan 38,584
1935217,7855Northwestern 43,557
1936247,6535Iowa 49,531
1937254,1885Notre Dame 50,838
1938237,0005Michigan 47,400
1939229,9545Northwestern 45,991
1940234,9905Michigan 46,998
1941239,2275Northwestern 47,845
1942231,3076Michigan 38,551
1943182,7797Purdue 26,111
1944179,9796Northwestern 29,997
1945246,9316Ohio State 41,155
1946328,0036Michigan 54,667
1947289,6125Purdue 57,922
1948308,5565Purdue 61,711
1949305,2005Wisconsin 61,040
1950267,0155Iowa 53,403
1951224,7595Nebraska 45,152
1952270,2925Iowa 54,058
1953293,3135Michigan 58,663
1954347,5556Iowa 57,926
1955305,5815USC 61,116
1956372,6546Iowa 62,109
1957314,7695Purdue 62,954
1958282,2305Iowa 56,446
1959256,0395Michigan 51,208
1960342,1996Iowa 57,033
1961361,9296Purdue 60,322
1962368,2006Iowa 61,367
1963286,7975Michigan 57,759
1964268,9085Iowa 53,782
1965302,7476Michigan 50,458
1966248,2485Iowa 49,600
1967237,7986Michigan State 39,633
1968312,8066USC 52,134
1969272,4496Ohio State 45,417
1970225,4685Nebraska 45,093
1971207,6626Michigan 34,610
1972222,0796Iowa 37,013
1973252,9176Nebraska 42,153
1974226,1276Ohio State 37,688
1975220,0817Wisconsin 31,440
1976262,8786Iowa 43,813
1977247,1187Michigan 35,303
1978231,4116Ohio State 38,569
1979241,9526Purdue 40,325
1980265,1056Iowa 44,184
1981301,2487Michigan 43,035