Folsom Field

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Folsom Field

Location	Colorado Ave Boulder, CO 80309
Broke ground	1924
Opened	October 11, 1924
Owner	Univ. of Colorado
Operator	Univ. of Colorado
Surface	Grass
Construction cost	$65,000 USD
Former names
Colorado Stadium (1924–1944)
Tenants
Colorado Buffaloes (NCAA) (1924–present)
Seats
53,750

Folsom Field is a stadium in Boulder, Colorado. It is primarily used for football, and is the home field of the University of Colorado Buffaloes.

1 History
- 1.1 Renovations
2 Playing surface
3 Other Uses
4 Attendance Records
5 Gallery

[edit] History

Folsom Field opened in 1924, and has been the home of the CU football team ever since. Through the 2004 football season, the Buffs have a home record of 281-132-10, a winning percentage of .680.

Originally, it was named Colorado Stadium, but in 1944 it was renamed after the great CU coach Frederick Folsom, who coached the Buffs three different times between 1895 and 1915. He led the teams to a combined .765 winning pct.

[edit] Renovations

When originally opened, the stadium had a capacity of 26,000. A second deck was added in 1956 which upped the capacity to 45,000, and 6,000 more seats were added in 1967 with the removal of the running track. In 1968 a huge, six-level press box was added to the west side of the field, directly in front of Balch Fieldhouse, the former home of the basketball team. Renovations continued in 1976 when they took out the old, rickety wooden bleachers and replaced them with aluminum ones. This raised the capacity to 52,005. In 2003, suites and club seating was added to the east side of the stadium raising the capacity to 53,750.

[edit] Playing surface

From opening until 1971, the playing surface was natural grass. In 1971, AstroTurf was installed. The first game played on the new surface was on September 18 against the University of Wyoming. The Astroturf surface was replaced in 1978 and then again in 1989.

In the Spring of 1999, Folsom Field returned to natural grass. The project, which included bio-thermal heating, drainage, and a sub-air system, cost $1.2 million.

[edit] Other Uses

Folsom has played host to many top national recording acts, including The Rolling Stones, The Who, Paul McCartney, Eagles, Van Halen, REO Speedwagon, The Beach Boys, Grateful Dead, The Doobie Brothers, Journey, Jethro Tull, John Mellencamp and the Dave Matthews Band.

It was also featured in the opening sequence of the 1970s television show Mork and Mindy.

[edit] Attendance Records

CU’s all-time record at Folsom Field, through 2003, is 271-129-10 for a .673 winning percentage. The largest crowd for a football game was 54,972 when the Buffs played Colorado State University on September 3, 2005. The top crowd ever at Folsom was for a rock concert, not a football game. On May 1, 1977, for one of the popular Colorado Sun Day concert series, 61,500 (estimated, but exceeds largest football crowd by about 9000) turned out to see Fleetwood Mac, Bob Seger, Santana and Country Joe McDonald.

Season	Games	Sold Out	W-L-T	Attendance	Average
1937	6		6-0-0	46,826	7,804
1942	4		4-0-0	15,796	3,949
1946	5		4-0-1	53,000	10,600
1947	4		2-2-0	54,000	13,500
1948	5		3-2-0	79,479	15,896
1949	5		2-3-0	98,776	19,755
1950	5		4-1-0	97,748	19,550
1951	5		5-0-0	107,121	21,424
1952	5	2	3-0-2	123,481	24,696
1953	5		3-2-0	113,640	22,728
1954	5	2	3-2-0	129,700	25,940
1955	5	1	4-1-0	113,500	22,700
1956	5	2	3-2-0	175,000	35,000
1957	5		3-2-0	152,500	30,500
1958	5	1	2-3-0	187,500	37,500
1959	6		3-3-0	177,903	29,651
1960	5	1	4-1-0	185,653	37,131
1961	6	1	5-1-0	199,987	33,331
1962	4		2-2-0	116,000	29,000
1963	5		1-4-0	135,000	27,000
1964	5		1-4-0	140,600	28,120
1965	5		3-1-1	129,700	25,940
1966	5	1	3-2-0	196,188	39,238
1967	5		4-1-0	196,817	39,363
1968	5	1	3-2-0	215,574	43,115
1969	5		5-0-0	175,104	35,021
1970	5	1	3-2-0	219,521	43,904
1971	5		5-0-0	220,171	44,034
1972	6	3	5-1-0	307,044	51,174
1973	5		3-2-0	246,521	49,304
1974	5	2	3-2-0	253,762	50,752
1975	6		6-0-0	281,199	46,867
1976	6	2	5-1-0	300,191	50,032
1977	6	2	5-1-0	293,483	48,914
1978	8	2	5-3-0	383,048	47,881
1979	6		1-5-0	265,956	44,326
1980	6	1	1-5-0	245,868	40,978
1981	6		3-3-0	209,224	34,871
1982	7	1	1-6-0	251,909	41,985
1983	6	1	3-3-0	237,674	39,612
1984	6	1	1-5-0	235,670	39,278
1985	6		4-2-0	220,734	36,789
1986	6	2	3-3-0	269,546	44,924
1987	6	1	4-2-0	268,711	44,785
1988	6		4-2-0	235,142	39,190
1989	6	2	6-0-0	293,726	48,954
1990	6	4	6-0-0	310,374	51,729
1991	6	4	4-1-1	311,458	51,910
1992	6	4	5-0-1	309,900	51,650
1993	6	5	4-2-0	311,360	51,893
1994	6	3	6-0-0	304,897	50,816
1995	6	4	4-2-0	312,958	52,160
1996	6	4	5-1-0	312,586	52,098
1997	6	2	3-3-0	309,947	51,658
1998	6		5-1-0	284,512	47,419
1999	5	1	4-1-0	239,313	47,863
2000	5		1-4-0	249,950	49,990
2001	6	1	5-1-0	284,848	47,475
2002	6	2	5-1-0	295,286	49,214
2003	6	2	3-3-0	302,588	50,431
2004	6	1	4-2-0	287,368	47,895
2005	6	2	5-1-0	302,452	50,409
2006	6		2-4-0	276,286	46,048

[edit] Gallery

The Colorado Buffaloes play at Colorado Stadium sometime in the 1920s.	Folsom Field between 1933 and 1950. The team is practicing in the North end of the field.	University of Colorado at Boulder Campus including Folsom Field sometime between 1940 and 1953.	Folsom Field 135th commencement on June 9, 1967. 1,836 degrees were awarded.
Club and box seats built prior to 2005 season on July 13, 2006	Facade built prior to 2005 season on July 13, 2006