Oklahoma Memorial Stadium

 

    

    Since the early 1920s, Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium has been home to the Oklahoma Sooners football team. In 1921 construction began and by 1923 was completed with an original seating capacity of 16,000. It cost almost $300,000 and all of the seating was on the west side of the stadium. In 1929, the stadium capacity doubled when the school added 16,000 seats to the east side of the stadium which brought the capacity to 32,000. In 1949, the track was taken out and the school lowered the playing field. This change allowed for more seating to be added and this raised seating capacity to 55,000. In the 1950s, the south end zone added just over 5,000 bleacher seats. In 1975, the upper deck was completed which brought the stadium to a whopping 75,000. By the 2002 season, the east side of the stadium added an upper deck which added roughly 8,000 seats and almost thirty luxury boxes. In 2007, the school added multiple high-definition video boards. The last major renovation happened in 2016 when the south end zone bleachers were removed and club seating, general seating, and a ginormous Jumbotron. This was completed for a hefty price of 160 million dollars. The stadium's final capacity is 86,1112. 




Home of the legendary Sooners football team, Memorial Stadium’s tenants have had seven national championship teams play within its walls. Their most popular tradition is the Sooner Schooner which is an old-timey covered wagon towed by two horses: Boomer and Sooner. The crew runs onto the field just before kickoff and parades around before heading back into the tunnel.


The “Palace of the Prairie” will continue to be an amazing venue for SEC athletics. Many more national championships will be brought back to Norman very soon.   


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