Rice-Eccles Stadium

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Rice-Eccles Stadium

Location	451 South 1400 East, Ste. 600 Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
Broke ground	1927
Opened	1927 (renovated in 1998)
Owner	University of Utah
Operator	University of Utah
Surface	FieldTurf (since 2002)
Construction cost	$133,000 USD (most recent renovation: $50 million)
Former names
Ute Stadium (1927-1972) Rice Stadium (1972-1998)
Tenants
Utah Utes (NCAA) (1927-Present) Real Salt Lake (MLS) (2005-Present)
Capacity
45,634

Rice-Eccles Stadium is the football stadium for the University of Utah Utes, located on the university's campus in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was originally built in 1927 at a cost of $133,000 USD. The 2002 Winter Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies were held at the stadium, renamed temporarily as "Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium" and also hosted the massive Day of Celebration in July 2005.

The stadium was orginially named Ute Stadium, and opened on October 1, 1927, with a Utah victory over Colorado Mines, 40-6, and was dedicated on October 22 against Colorado. The seating capacity was 20,000. An additional 10,000 seats were added to the north end in 1947. Bob Rice gave $1 million USD to the university to renovate the stadium in 1972. Additional seating was added to the south end of the stadium, new locker rooms and a new press box were added, the playing surface was lowered, and the track was removed. This brought the capacity to 32,500.

The stadium underwent a $50 million renovation beginning in May 1997, which was completed in September 1998. $10 million of the renovation was donated by Spencer Eccles, through the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundations. The rest of the funds were raised from private donations, bonds, and the Salt Lake Olympic Committee. Most of the stadium was demolished for the renovation. Only the south end stands remained before a brand new facility was built in place of the old structure. The university decided to add the Eccles name to the stadium along with the Rice family name to recognize the contributions of both the old and new facilities.

FieldTurf is the third surface in Rice-Eccles Stadium's history. When the stadium opened in 1998, it was lined with SportsGrass, a hybrid of natural grass and artificial turf that the university experimented with from 1995-99. In 2000, natural grass replaced the SportsGrass and was in place until the end of the 2001 season, when it was covered by blacktop for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Since 2005, Rice-Eccles Stadium has also been the home of the Major League Soccer franchise Real Salt Lake. It was recently announced that a soccer-specific stadium for the team will be constructed in the suburb of Sandy.

Just south of the stadium is the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park.

[edit] External links

Official stadium website

[edit] Photos

The south end of the stadium with the Olympic cauldron lit

Satellite view of the stadium

Preceded by first stadium	Home of Real Salt Lake 2005–present	Succeeded by Sandy Stadium planned for 2008

Coordinates: 40°45′35.8″N, 111°50′55.8″W

Western Conference		Eastern Conference
Current Stadiums in Major League Soccer
Dick's Sporting Goods Park \| The Home Depot Center \| Pizza Hut Park \| Rice-Eccles Stadium \| Robertson Stadium		Arrowhead Stadium \| BMO Field \| Columbus Crew Stadium \| Giants Stadium \| Gillette Stadium \| RFK Memorial Stadium \| Toyota Park

Current Football Stadiums in the Mountain West Conference
Amon G. Carter Stadium (TCU) • Falcon Stadium (Air Force) • Hughes Stadium (Colorado State) • LaVell Edwards Stadium (BYU) • Qualcomm Stadium (San Diego State) • Rice-Eccles Stadium (Utah) • Sam Boyd Stadium (UNLV) • University Stadium (New Mexico) • War Memorial Stadium (Wyoming)