Rice-Eccles Stadium
Encyclopedia
Rice-Eccles Stadium is an outdoor college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 stadium
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...

 in Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...

, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, on the campus of the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...

. It is the home field of the Utah Utes
Utah Utes
The Utah Utes are the athletics teams of the University of Utah. They are named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans. The men's basketball team is known as the "Runnin' Utes"; the women's basketball team, formerly known as the "Lady Utes," now prefers to be referred to as the "Utes"; and the...

 of the Pacific-12 Conference. It served as the main stadium for the 2002 Winter Olympics
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event that was celebrated in February 2002 in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Approximately 2,400 athletes from 77 nations participated in 78 events in fifteen disciplines, held throughout...

; the Opening and Closing Ceremonies were held at the stadium, which was temporarily renamed "Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium
Olympic Stadium
The Olympic Stadium is the name usually given to the big centrepiece stadium of the Summer Olympic Games. Traditionally, the opening and closing ceremonies and the track and field competitions are held in the Olympic Stadium. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words Olympic...

".

The FieldTurf
FieldTurf
FieldTurf is a brand of artificial turf playing surface. It is manufactured and installed by the FieldTurf Tarkett division of Tarkett Inc., based in Calhoun, Georgia, USA. In the late 1990s, the artificial surface changed the industry with a design intended to replicate real grass...

 playing field runs in the traditional north-south configuration, and sits at an elevation
Elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....

 of 4657 feet (1419 m) above sea level, 330 feet (100 m) above downtown Salt Lake City.

History

When Salt Lake City was awarded the 2002 Winter Olympics in 1995, it was obvious that Rice Stadium
Rice Stadium (Utah)
Robert Rice Stadium was an outdoor athletic stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah, located on the campus of the University of Utah. Originally opened in 1927 as "Ute Stadium," it was the home of the Utah Utes football team. Renamed for Robert L...

 was not suitable to serve as the main stadium. The concrete, timber, and earth-fill facility had been built in 1927 and was showing its age.

In 1996, U of U athletic director Chris Hill announced plans to renovate Rice Stadium into a new facility that would be up to Olympic standards. It was initially expected to take three years to completely overhaul the facility.

However, in 1997, Spencer Eccles
Spencer Eccles
Spencer Fox Eccles is a prominent financier and philanthropist in Salt Lake City, Utah and chairman emeritus of the Intermountain Region of Wells Fargo Corporation...

, a Utah alumnus and chairman of Utah's biggest bank, First Security Corporation, announced that the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation
George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation
The George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation is a non-profit foundation located in Salt Lake City, Utah that gives grants for projects and programs throughout Utah in the following areas: arts and culture, community, education, health care, and preservation and conservation.-History:The...

 would donate $10 million toward the project. In recognition of this gift, the U of U won permission from the Eccles family to add George Eccles's name to the stadium alongside that of Robert L. Rice
Robert L. Rice
Robert L. Rice was a health club pioneer and a philanthropist. Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah, location of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics, bears his name. Rice donated $1 million dollars in 1972 to renovate the stadium, then known as Ute Stadium...

, who had funded the original renovation project to Rice Stadium in 1972. Before it was called Rice Stadium, it was called Ute Stadium, which opened in 1927 with a Utah win over Colorado Mines
Colorado School of Mines
The Colorado School of Mines is a small public teaching and research university devoted to engineering and applied science, with special expertise in the development and stewardship of the Earth's natural resources. Located in Golden, Colorado, CSM was ranked 29th, in America among national...

.

Immediately after the final home game on November 15, fittingly a 31–14 victory over Rice
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

, most of Rice Stadium was demolished for the renovation. All that remained of the old stadium were the stands in the south end zone, built in 1982
1982 in sports
1982 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup:** Men's overall season champion: Phil Mahre, United States** Women's overall season champion: Erika Hess, Switzerland-American football:...

. The stadium did not miss a football season, as the project was timed not to disrupt the 1997
1997 in sports
1997 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Luc Alphand, France** Women's overall season champion: Pernilla Wiberg, Sweden-American football:...

 home schedule. The new stadium was ready less than 10 months later for the 1998
1998 in sports
1998 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Hermann Maier, Austria** Women's overall season champion: Katja Seizinger, Germany-American football:...

 home opener, a 45–22 win over Louisville
University of Louisville
The University of Louisville is a public university in Louisville, Kentucky. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of the first universities chartered west of the Allegheny Mountains. The university is mandated by the Kentucky General...

 on September 12. The stadium now seats 45,017 and has a 6-story press box.

In June 2010, the University accepted an invitation to join the Pacific Ten Conference
Pacific Ten Conference
The Pacific-12 Conference is a college athletic conference that operates in the Western United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I; its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision , the higher of two levels of NCAA Division I football competition...

, and are scheduled to begin play in the conference in 2011. It is expected that Rice-Eccles Stadium is to be expanded and the locker room facilities upgraded.

Playing surface

Since 2002
2002 in sports
2002 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Stephan Eberharter, Austria** Women's overall season champion: Michaela Dorfmeister, Austria-American football:...

, the playing field at Rice-Eccles Stadium has been FieldTurf
FieldTurf
FieldTurf is a brand of artificial turf playing surface. It is manufactured and installed by the FieldTurf Tarkett division of Tarkett Inc., based in Calhoun, Georgia, USA. In the late 1990s, the artificial surface changed the industry with a design intended to replicate real grass...

, a next-generation infilled synthetic turf, which was most recently replaced in 2009
2009 in sports
-Alpine skiing:* Alpine World Ski Championships 2009 held at Val d'Isère, Savoy, France-American football:* The Florida Gators defeat the Oklahoma Sooners 24-14 in front of a Dolphin Stadium record crowd of 78,468 to win the 2009 BCS National Championship Game...

.

When the stadium reopened in 1998, its surface was SportGrass, a hybrid of natural grass and artificial turf
Artificial turf
Artificial turf is a surface manufactured from synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commercial applications as well...

. Earlier, Rice Stadium had been among the first facilities to use SportGrass. A full natural grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...

 was installed in 2000 for two seasons, then was covered by asphalt blacktop for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event that was celebrated in February 2002 in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Approximately 2,400 athletes from 77 nations participated in 78 events in fifteen disciplines, held throughout...

 in February.

Football attendance records

Attendance Records
Rank Date Time Opponent Result Attendance
1 September 11, 2003 5:45 pm W 31–24 46,768
2 November 6, 2010 1:30 pm #4 TCU
2010 TCU Horned Frogs football team
The 2010 TCU Horned Frogs football team represented Texas Christian University in the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by tenth year head coach Gary Patterson and played its home games at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas...

 
L 47–7 46,522
3 November 22, 2008 4:00 pm #14 BYU
2008 BYU Cougars football team
The 2008 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University in the 2008 college football season.Prior to the 2008 season, BYU had won consecutive Mountain West Conference championship titles without losing a conference game. It had also finished with an 11-2 overall record for...

 
W 48–24 46,488
4 September 2, 2010 6:30 pm #15 Pittsburgh
2010 Pittsburgh Panthers football team
-Rankings:The Panthers debuted at #15 in the preseason Coaches' Poll. and in the preseason Associated Press Poll.Sports Illustrated ranked Pitt #16 in the annual College Football Preview issue on August 16, 2010....

 
   W 27–24OT 45,730
5 November 6, 2008 6:00 pm #11 TCU
2008 TCU Horned Frogs football team
The 2008 TCU Horned Frogs football team represented Texas Christian University in the 2008 college football season. The team was coached by Gary Patterson. The Frogs played their home games at Amon G. Carter Stadium, which is located on campus in Fort Worth...

 
W 13–10 45,666
6 November 21, 1998 11:30 am L 26–24 45,634
7 October 2, 2008 7:00 pm Oregon State
2008 Oregon State Beavers football team
The 2008 Oregon State Beavers football team represents Oregon State University in the college football season of 2008-2009. The team's head coach is Mike Riley...

 
W 31–28 45,599
8 September 26, 2009 5:30 pm Louisville
2009 Louisville Cardinals football team
The 2009 Louisville Cardinals football team represented the University of Louisville in the college football season of 2009–2010. The Cardinals were coached by Steve Kragthorpe, who was in his third season at Louisville. The Cardinals played their home games at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. The...

 
W 30–14 45,588
9 September 6, 2008 7:00 pm UNLV
2008 UNLV Rebels football team
The 2008 UNLV Rebels football team represented the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football during the 2008 season. UNLV competed as a member of the Mountain West Conference and played their home games at...

 
W 42–21 45,587
10 September 2, 2005 6:00 pm W 27–24 45,528

Major League Soccer

Rice-Eccles Stadium was also the home field of the Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...

 franchise Real Salt Lake
Real Salt Lake
Real Salt Lake is an American professional soccer club based in Sandy, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The team competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. They currently play their home games at Rio Tinto Stadium. Real Salt Lake won...

 from 2005 until October 2008, when Rio Tinto Stadium was opened in the suburb of Sandy
Sandy, Utah
Sandy is a city in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. It is a suburb of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,461 at the 2010 census, making it the sixth-largest city in Utah....

, south of Salt Lake City.

2002 Winter Olympics & Paralympics

During the 2002 Winter Olympics, the stadium served as the venue for the Opening Ceremony on February 8, 2002, and for the Closing Ceremony on February 24, 2002. In order to host the ceremonies, the grass field was paved over with asphalt
Asphalt
Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...

 and a stage was constructed, scoreboards were removed, flags and Olympic livery were installed, temporary seating was brought in (allowing more than 50,000 spectators), and the 2002 Olympic cauldron was installed atop the southern bleachers. For the duration of the games, the stadium was temporary renamed the Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium. Through broadcasts from the stadium an estimated 3.5 billion people worldwide watched the Opening and Closing Ceremonies on television. The opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Paralympics
2002 Winter Paralympics
The 2002 Winter Paralympics, the eighth Winter Paralympics, were held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, from March 7 to March 16, 2002. A total of 416 athletes from 36 nations participated....

 was also held in the stadium on March 7, 2002.

Olympic Cauldron Park

Immediately south of the stadium is the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park
Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park
The Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park is a plaza located at the south end of Rice-Eccles Stadium on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. During the 2002 Winter Olympics Rice-Eccles Stadium was known as Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium and was the site of the Opening and...

. The park contains a 2002 Winter Olympic museum, the Olympic cauldron, Hoberman Arch
Hoberman Arch
The Hoberman Arch was the centerpiece of the Olympic Medals Plaza in downtown Salt Lake City during the 2002 Winter Olympics. Following the Olympics the arch was moved to the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park where it is now, along with the Olympic cauldron, one the main highlights and an...

, and other memorabilia from the games.

Notable events

The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

 played here twice: In 2002 during their Forty Licks World Tour, and in 2004 as part of their Bigger Bang World Tour.

U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...

 were scheduled to kick off the 3rd leg of their 360° Tour
U2 360° Tour
The U2 360° Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Launched in support of the group's 2009 album No Line on the Horizon, the tour visited stadiums from 2009 through 2011. It was named for a stage configuration that allowed the audience to almost completely surround the stage...

 here, on June 3, 2010, but was postponed, due to Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...

's emergency back surgery. They returned on May 24, 2011, with The Fray
The Fray
-Literature:*Fray, a phenomenon in Terry Pratchett's The Carpet People*Fray , a comic book series by Joss Whedon**Melaka Fray, titular character of the comic book series-Music:*"Fray", a song from the album 14 Shades of Grey by Staind...

 as their opening act.

Kid Rock
Kid Rock
Robert James "Bob" Ritchie , known by his stage name Kid Rock, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and rapper with five Grammy Awards nominations...

 and Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...

 also performed here in 2011, and Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America...

 brought her Speak Now World Tour
Speak Now World Tour
Speak Now World Tour is the second concert tour by American country singer-songwriter, Taylor Swift, in support of her third studio album, Speak Now. The tour visited Asia, Europe, North America and Australasia...

 to Rice-Eccles Stadium that same year.

External links

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