Huskie Stadium
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| Huskie Stadium | |
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| "The Dog House" | |
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| Location | Stadium Dr S DeKalb, IL 60115 |
| Broke ground | January 30, 1964 |
| Opened | November 6, 1965 |
| Owner | Northern Illinois University |
| Operator | Northern Illinois University |
| Surface | FieldTurf |
| Construction cost | $2,265,172 (Original) |
| Architect | Holbair & Root, Chicago (West) HOK Sport (East expansion) |
| Former names | "The House that George Bork Built" (pre-1974) Huskie Stadium (1974-2003) |
| Tenants | Northern Illinois Huskies (Football) |
| Capacity | 31,000 |
- For the home field of the University of Washington, see Husky Stadium.
Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium is a stadium in DeKalb, Illinois. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the Northern Illinois University "Huskies". Huskie Stadium opened in 1965 and seats 31,000 people. It replaced Glidden Field, a facility on the east campus which only sat 5,500 but routinely saw 5-digit crowds.[dubious ]
It was originally known as "The House that George Bork built", but is now nicknamed "the Doghouse". On September 20, 1969, the Northern Illinois-Idaho game marked the state’s first major-college gridiron contest played on artificial turf. The Huskies won, 47-30. The field was recarpeted in 1980 and 1990 before being replaced by a new FieldTurf surface in 2001. The stadium originally consisted of the main concrete west stands (which used to contain practice facilities for the gymnastics and wrestling teams) and much smaller temporary stands on the east side. The east side was completely redone in 1995, creating a steel structure to mirror the concrete one. To its credit, the university has also maintained and enhanced the institution’s top all-around athletics facility—by also updating the scoreboard and video display system in both 2000 and 2001, and creating the attractive South End Zone berm in 2002. In 2003, the field was renamed Brigham Field in honor of Robert J. Brigham, a former player, coach and athletic director at the school.
In 2005 it was announced that the NIU Academic and Athletic Performance Center, a new field house and athletic training facility, would be built in the north end zone.
The stadium was also the site of a few NCAA records. On October 6th, 1990 against Fresno State, quarterback Stacey Robinson rushed for 287 yards in the 1st half, and finished with 308 overall, as the Huskies upset then-24th ranked Bulldogs, by a final score of 73-18. In that game, the Huskies established school records for rushing yards(733), total offense(806), and First Downs(36). It was also the first victory over a ranked opponent at the stadium. Since then, the Huskies have experienced large amounts of success in the national spotlight, defeating the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Maryland Terrapins. Because of the Huskies success, NIU has averaged the highest attendance per game in the MAC for the past 3 years.
In recent years, the football program has generated national headlines for the institution. With 7 consecutive winning seasons (best in the MAC), Northern Illinois has the 25th best record in the nation since 2000 (53-30)---including triumphs over Bowl Championship Series programs such as the Wake Forest, University of Alabama, University of Maryland, and Iowa State University. The Huskies finished in the major-college Top 30 during the 2003 and 2004 seasons and defeated Troy University, 34-21, in the 2004 Silicon Valley Football Classic. In 2006, NIU faced off against TCU in the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego, California making it the second time in the last three years NIU has gone to a postseason bowl game. New head football coach Jerry Kill will look to continue the home field advantage that is Huskie Stadium, with upcoming home games against Navy and Wisconsin.
The stadium could host Olympic soccer matches if Chicago is awarded with 2016 games.
[edit] Yordon Athletic Center
The $14-million NIU Academic and Athletic Performance Center, which is located at the north end zone, opened in August 2007. At a press conference in conjunction with the annual Northern Illinois Spring Football Game, first-year Athletics Director Jim Phillips announced on Saturday, April 23, 2005, that Huskie Intercollegiate Athletics will embark on the largest capital project in its history. NIU began breaking ground for the new all-purpose facility in the fall of 2006 and was finished in August 2007. If Chicago is selected to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, Huskie Stadium will host preliminary soccer matches.
Inside the Jeffrey and Kimberly Yordon Center is a new 3,150 sq. ft. football locker room with a 780 sq. ft. gathering area, a 12,505 sq. ft. strength and conditioning center (largest in the MAC), an academic support center, athletic training room with rehab pools, a 150-seat meeting room, video editing room, all 10 coach's offices, football equipment room, coaches' locker room, and state-of-the-art computer classrooms for student-athletes.
[edit] References
http://www3.niu.edu/athletics/football/facilities.html
http://football.ballparks.com/
http://www3.niu.edu/athletics/aapc/index.html
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