The Swamp. The Huge Home. The Granddaddy of Them All.
Whether or not you’re a fan of Demise Valley (the orange-and-white model or the purple-and-gold), Landing Jesus or simply enjoying between the hedges, you perceive the distinctive expertise faculty soccer’s stadiums present.
So we requested 14 of our faculty soccer writers to rank the perfect stadiums within the sport. No parameters, no standards. Writers had been requested to submit their prime 20 stadiums so as. We then awarded factors: 20 for first-place votes, 19 for second and all the best way all the way down to 1 level for a stadium voted No. 20.
In all, 42 stadiums acquired at the very least one vote, permitting us to construct a Prime 25 (that is faculty soccer, in spite of everything) for followers to type a journey bucket listing or simply venues to check out in EA Sports activities School Soccer 25.
And definitely a listing to debate (that is faculty soccer, in spite of everything).
So with apologies (and a nod) to the Kibbie Dome on the campus of the College of Idaho at No. 26, right here is ESPN’s Prime 25 listing of stadiums in faculty soccer.
1. Tiger Stadium, LSU Tigers, est. 1924
Factors: 247 (most potential is 280)
Absorbing the environment on a Saturday evening in Tiger Stadium is pure nirvana for soccer followers, and it’s hardly simply the soccer recreation. The meals in any respect the tailgating spots is divine, and we’re speaking about dishes from gumbo to shrimp boils to jambalaya being stirred in large pots by followers hydrating with chilly drinks and sporting their purple-and-gold apparel (and, sure, beads too).
Mike the Tiger, LSU’s dwell mascot, roams round in his spacious zoolike enclosure simply north of the stadium. He used to hang around on the sphere in his cage on wheels simply exterior the opponents’ locker room, however he not leaves his habitat to go contained in the stadium for video games. Having opened in 1924 and now with a capability of 102,321, Tiger Stadium has been listed as one in every of “America’s Most Treasured Stadiums” by the Historic Stadium Caucus. And when the Golden Band From Tigerland hits these first 4 notes upon stepping onto the sphere for pregame festivities, there’s nothing else fairly prefer it. — Chris Low
2. Rose Bowl, UCLA Bruins, est. 1922
Factors: 209
Broadcaster Keith Jackson used to marvel (repeat it in his legendary voice) concerning the majestic San Gabriel Mountains hovering within the distance on the Rose Bowl. Good luck discovering a extra picturesque backdrop for any soccer stadium on the planet, particularly at sundown. Positive, the stadium is previous and in want of repairs, however there’s a purpose it was established as a Nationwide Historic Landmark.
The Rose Bowl Recreation is held there yearly. The stadium additionally has hosted 5 Tremendous Bowls, an Olympic gold medal match in soccer and a number of World Cup finals. Though UCLA doesn’t draw massive crowds for house video games, the mix of historical past, pageantry and surroundings surrounding the long-lasting 92,542-seat stadium in Pasadena, California, makes it a must-visit for any faculty soccer fan. — Low
Factors: 182
Measurement issues with stadiums, and Michigan stays the biggest by capability at 107,601, edging fellow Huge Ten venues Beaver Stadium (Penn State) and Ohio Stadium (Ohio State). In 2013, Michigan drew 115,109 for its recreation towards Notre Dame, the biggest crowd ever to attend a soccer recreation on campus. The listed capability has resulted in “01” since 1956 with the “extra seat” belonging to former Michigan coach and athletic director Fritz Crisler.
The stadium went by means of a $227 million renovation in 2010 that introduced membership suites and personal suites and considerably elevated the noise degree across the massive bowl. Video games at “the Big House” — a phrase coined by former commentator Keith Jackson — start dramatically with the Wolverines touching a “Go Blue” banner as they enter the sphere. — Adam Rittenberg
Factors: 175
Since opening in 1930, Notre Dame Stadium has hosted a few of faculty soccer’s most important groups, gamers, coaches and moments. However the venue is named a lot for what lies simply past its northern edge as for what’s inside.
Since fall 1964, the “Word of Life” mural on the college library tower has welcomed ball carriers to the north finish zone. Referred to as “Touchdown Jesus,” the mural depicts Jesus Christ together with his arms raised, just like the landing sign. Situated somewhat greater than a soccer area away from the Knute Rockne Gate, the place Notre Dame gamers enter for every recreation, Landing Jesus is seen from a portion of seats within the south a part of the stadium and is often proven in digicam pictures of Notre Dame contests. — Rittenberg
Factors: 172
School soccer has introduced mega-stadiums to less-populated areas, and arguably none stands out like Beaver Stadium, the nation’s second-largest venue by capability. The stadium rises close to Mount Nittany on the northern fringe of State School, which has a inhabitants of round 41,000 however turns into the third-largest metropolis in Pennsylvania for Penn State house video games. The stadium’s dimension and capability (106,572) mirror Penn State’s progress over time. The stadium moved to its present location in 1960 and had mushroomed from a capability of round 46,000 to 83,770 by 1980.
Penn State gained two nationwide championships throughout the Eighties, which led to the addition of about 10,000 extra seats to Beaver Stadium by 1991. An 11,500-seat deck within the south finish zone in 2001 introduced capability to 6 figures. The group’s White Out video games — the place college students and different followers come dressed utterly in white — present one of many sport’s most hanging visuals. — Rittenberg
Factors: 151
Washington boasts that Husky Stadium is “the greatest setting in college football,” and it’s exhausting guilty it for saying so. Constructed on the banks of picturesque Lake Washington, this mammoth 70,138-seat stadium is a uncommon big-city venue with big-time faculty soccer. With views of the Seattle skyline, Mount Rainier and a pair of mountain ranges, Husky Stadium is the premier faculty soccer bucket-list journey on the West Coast.
Pregaming on the water is a favourite pastime, with a spread of experiences from small boats to costly yachts lining Union Bay. Husky Stadium went by means of an intensive renovation in 2012 that modernized the power, bringing followers nearer to the sphere and including to what was already a formidable home-field benefit. — Kyle Bonagura
Factors: 149
Arguably no faculty soccer stadium is extra synonymous with its authentic form than Ohio Stadium. The venue opened in 1922 because the nation’s first horseshoe-shaped stadium with double decks. Architect Howard Dwight Smith went with a horseshoe form to accommodate monitor occasions within the open finish, and so that every one seats might face the sphere. The stadium is famously “on the banks of the Olentangy River,” as legendary faculty soccer announcer Keith Jackson would say, however a bend within the river needed to be straightened to accommodate the venue and pure drainage was rerouted into sewers.
Though “The Horseshoe” has been crammed in by a grandstand behind the south finish zone, Ohio Stadium will without end be identified by its authentic form. Earlier than every recreation, the band famously performs Script Ohio, culminating with the dotting of the “i.” — Rittenberg
8. Camp Randall Stadium, Wisconsin Badgers, est. 1917
Factors: 133
The location of Camp Randall Stadium is steeped in historical past — Wisconsin’s state truthful befell there earlier than the Civil Battle, and Union troopers had been educated there throughout the struggle — however it could be most acknowledged for a latest custom: “Jump Around.”
In 1998, Wisconsin blasted Home of Ache’s 1992 track “Jump Around” between the third and fourth quarters of its homecoming recreation towards Purdue. College students and others in each stadium decks bounced to the track, inflicting the venue to shake with pleasure. The Badgers went on to beat the Boilermakers and commenced enjoying the track earlier than the fourth quarter of each recreation. Gamers and visiting followers usually be part of within the “Jump Around,” creating some of the thrilling and recognizable scenes in faculty soccer. — Rittenberg
Factors: 115
Bronze statues of Alabama’s nationwide championship-winning coaches flank the suitable aspect of a brick-paved walkway on the north finish of Bryant-Denny Stadium, the positioning of the Stroll of Champions, the place 1000’s of followers collect on each side of the plaza hours earlier than the sport to welcome Crimson Tide gamers and coaches as they make their approach inside.
The stadium has seen great transformation over the previous 20-plus years and now seats 101,821 individuals and options luxurious suites and membership seating. As just lately because the Nineties, Alabama would play three or 4 house video games a yr at Legion Discipline in Birmingham, however Bryant-Denny is now firmly the Tide’s soccer cathedral. It’s a sea of crimson blended in with Bear Bryant’s acquainted houndstooth sample on recreation Saturdays. The decibel ranges are ear-piercing with chants of “Roll Tide” and the custom of enjoying “Dixieland Delight” by nation music band Alabama within the fourth quarter. — Low
Factors: 112
Members of the Vol Navy set sail as early as the center a part of the week for Neyland Stadium, which sits on the banks of the Tennessee River. The stream of orange-clad banners flying from boats floating down the river is matched solely by the mass of orange that engulfs Peyton Manning Move to observe the Vols’ gamers and coaches make their approach down the hilly avenue and into the stadium. For years, Neyland Stadium has owned one of many largest capacities within the sport, and it’s now listed at 101,915 after some renovations over time.
Constructed in 1921 as Shields-Watkins Discipline (now the identify of the enjoying floor), Neyland Stadium can also be house to some of the famend entrances in faculty soccer. The Delight of the Southland Marching Band varieties a large “T” for the gamers and coaches to run by means of simply earlier than kickoff, and the tip zones are painted in orange-and-white checkerboards. And one different factor: You’re liable to listen to the band crank up “Rocky Top” about 100 occasions a recreation. — Low
11. Memorial Stadium, Clemson Tigers, est. 1942
Factors: 105
A visit to Clemson consists of “the most exciting 25 seconds in college football.” There’s a gradual buildup, after all. The enormous videoboard retains the group up to date: Gamers loading up the buses to take the 1 minute, 45 second drive from the locker room to the hill atop the east finish zone. Coach Dabo Swinney is all the time the primary one off the bus. He and his gamers cease first to rub Howard’s Rock, which was positioned on a pedestal on the prime of the hill in 1966 however didn’t turn out to be a pregame custom till the subsequent yr.
They stand atop the hill, edging near the Rock, as the group builds right into a frenzy. Then: BANG! Swinney is off like Usain Bolt within the 100-meter sprint, working down the hill together with his gamers in quick pursuit because the Clemson band performs “Tiger Rag,” fireworks shoot from the videoboard and followers scream C-L-E-M-S-O-N to cap it off. — Andrea Adelson
Factors: 94
The environment at Michie Stadium — which is celebrating its a centesimal anniversary this season — is unmatched in America, starting with its setting at West Level on New York’s Hudson River and the cadets’ full-dress parade three hours earlier than kickoff on recreation days. Within the fall, the encircling valley is painted with the colours of foliage whereas 1,000 cadets line the sphere and unfurl an American flag that stretches from objective line to objective line earlier than extra bounce from a helicopter with the sport ball and parachute all the way down to midfield.
It’s a totally immersive expertise: Cadets from numerous campus organizations work all of the concession stands, and the T-shirt cannon is a miniature tank. — Dave Wilson
Factors: 91
It doesn’t take lengthy to note issues are totally different at Kyle Discipline. As a substitute of cheerleaders, there are Yell Leaders who arrange coordinated yells for followers, together with the biggest pupil part in America at greater than 36,000 robust. The weekend begins with Midnight Yell on Friday nights, the place the Aggies apply mentioned yells in Kyle with 1000’s of their pals.
True to A&M’s origins as a army faculty, the Aggies’ Corps of Cadets remains to be an enormous a part of recreation day, and the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band is a big, military-style outfit that places on intricate halftime exhibits. All of it provides as much as some of the distinctive game-day experiences within the nation, with the biggest stadium within the SEC (102,733) offering a raucous, memorable setting on Saturdays. — Wilson
14. Autzen Stadium, Oregon Geese, est. 1967
Factors: 90
Regardless of its modest 54,000-seat capability, Autzen Stadium has lengthy been billed as one of many loudest stadiums in faculty soccer. There’s simply one thing concerning the mixture of the stadium’s generic potato-chip-shaped design and passionate fan base that seemingly defies logic. Taking in a recreation at Autzen feels extra like someplace with twice the group dimension than like different stadiums of an identical dimension.
The proof is within the outcomes: Over the previous 10 years, the Geese are tied with the Tenth-best report in faculty soccer (90-38) however rank No. 6 when enjoying at house vs. No. 15 when on the highway. Plus, there’s a duck that rides a motorbike to kick issues off. — Bonagura
0:23
Metallica hypes up Virginia Tech
Earlier than Virginia Tech hosts Notre Dame, legendary band Metallica delivers a message to hype up Hokies followers earlier than the group runs out on the sphere.
Factors: 77
“Enter Sandman” has turn out to be an iconic a part of Virginia Tech soccer, and it’s exhausting to imagine this custom is solely 25 years previous. The track itself, by Metallica, has been performed earlier than the soccer group enters Lane Stadium since 2000, and it began to assist christen the primary videoboard within the stadium. Enjoyable truth: “Enter Sandman” was chosen over “Welcome to the Jungle” by Weapons N’ Roses and “Sirius” by The Alan Parsons Mission, which is the Chicago Bulls’ iconic entrance track.
The custom of the group leaping up and down because the track performs started Dec. 1, 2001 — when a band member began to leap and others adopted. The cue is simple sufficient. The start instrumentals to the track begin enjoying, signaling the time is close to. A pregame spotlight video performs, the gamers collect within the tunnel, after which whoosh, the group runs onto the sphere after touching the Hokie stone because the track lyrics begin enjoying. The group screams, “Exit light! Enter night! Take my hand! We’re off to never-never land!” — Adelson
Factors: 73
Memorial Stadium will hit its report four-hundredth straight sellout this season, setting an ordinary for the legendary Midwest Good Huskers followers. Mack Brown celebrated them his first yr at Texas, when the unranked Longhorns went to Lincoln and ended Nebraska’s 47-game house successful streak. As a substitute of pelting Texas working again Ricky Williams with insults on account of the frustration, they gave him a standing ovation and chanted “Heisman! Heisman!”
On my solely journey there as a fan, the Huskers crushed the guests, and a fan ultimately zone nosebleeds tapped me on the shoulder and gently requested, “Excuse me, but don’t they have any other quarterbacks?” then went on to reward the visiting band. Not your standard-issue trash discuss. — Wilson
17. Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn Tigers, est. 1939
Factors: 69
There are numerous iconic stadiums throughout the SEC, however there are solely two the place among the best rivalries in faculty soccer is performed: the Iron Bowl. And Jordan-Hare is an enormous place — at 88,000 followers, it’s the Eleventh-largest on-campus stadium. When you occur to see an Auburn victory at Jordan-Hare, strolling over to Toomer’s Nook to roll the oak timber with bathroom paper is one in every of many traditions which can be distinctive to school soccer.
When you present as much as Jordan-Hare on the suitable Saturday, historical past has proven you would possibly see one thing iconic. — Harry Lyles Jr.
Factors: 66
Sanford Stadium homes one of many strongest applications within the sport and ranks because the ninth-largest seating capability, making for an electrical environment. However for bucket-list functions, you want to have the ability to say you’ve seen a recreation performed “between the hedges.” For the reason that stadium opened in 1929, video games have been performed between privet hedges that cowl about 5,000 sq. ft across the enjoying area.
Georgia gave the hedges a revitalization in 2024, with hedges from the identical lineage because the originals. With the aesthetic appeal, massive crowd and nice soccer, you may’t go unsuitable with a go to to Athens. — Lyles
Factors: 64
Osceola and Renegade are as synonymous with Florida State as its tomahawk chop and garnet and gold. The pregame custom began in 1978 as a method to honor the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which granted its permission and labored with Florida State to design the regalia that Osceola wears whereas atop an Appaloosa horse generally known as Renegade. Invoice Durham got here up with the idea, and the household nonetheless runs this system to today. The struggle chant and chop had been added later within the Eighties. What unfolds is a practice as distinctive as any in faculty soccer.
Osceola, named for an awesome Seminole warrior, rides Renegade onto the sphere to start out getting the group hyped. The band performs the struggle chant; the group does the chop. The group enters the sphere, then stands on its sideline, helmets raised, as Osceola rides Renegade to midfield, holding a flaming spear. He rears Renegade up on his hind legs after which BOOM! crops the spear to roaring approval. — Adelson
20. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Florida Gators, est. 1930
Factors: 61
What number of colleges can say they’ve two traditions which can be instantly identifiable? Florida can. Its oldest custom stems again to the Forties, when George Edmondson began a “Two Bits” cheer within the stands that finally led to his legendary pregame ritual. Beginning within the Seventies, Edmondson would gown in a yellow button-down shirt, blue-and-orange tie and pinstripe pants, whistle round his neck after all, and lead the cheer from the sphere earlier than each house recreation. He grew to become identified merely as “Mr. Two Bits.” Florida has continued the custom in his honor with movie star “Mr. Two Bits,” so the pregame cheer lives on.
However a brand new custom emerged in 2017. As a method to pay tribute to the late Tom Petty, a Gainesville native, “I Won’t Back Down” performs between the third and fourth quarters. Think about greater than 88,000 individuals at The Swamp — one of many loudest stadiums in America — singing, “Hey, baby, there ain’t no easy way out” and “I won’t back down” in thunderous unison. Fairly highly effective. Particularly at evening with telephone flashlights on. — Adelson
21. Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Ole Miss Rebels, est. 1915
Factors: 51
Lengthy some of the distinctive atmospheres in faculty sports activities with its famed tailgating scene in The Grove, a 10-acre grassy space of land shaded by oak timber within the coronary heart of campus, Vaught-Hemingway turns into Occasion Central within the fall. Followers from each groups flock to open-air tents in The Grove that function all of the facilities, from big-screen TVs to completely stocked bars, even chandeliers. The ladies college students are identified to decorate of their Sunday greatest, and there’s an air of Southern hospitality you don’t discover on each SEC campus within the fall.
Vaught-Hemingway crammed in a report crowd of 66,703 final season for the Rebels’ win over LSU. There are actually bigger stadiums across the faculty soccer panorama, however there aren’t many environments which can be extra enjoyable than spending a day on the Vaught. — Low
22. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, USC Trojans, est. 1923
Factors: 44
One of many few sports activities venues designated as a Nationwide Historic Landmark, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum will turn out to be the primary stadium on this planet to host the Olympic Video games thrice once they come to city in 2028. As a university soccer stadium, few within the nation have been the positioning for as many iconic moments over the many years, and one can’t assist however really feel one is on hallowed floor when passing by means of the turnstiles.
For years, the capability sat close to 100,000 individuals, however that quantity dropped to only shy of 80,000 after a $315 million renovation accomplished earlier than the 2019 season added luxurious suites and different trendy facilities. — Bonagura
Factors: 42
If you’re in search of some of the stunning scenes in all of school soccer, Kidd Brewer Stadium is the place for you. The stadium is surrounded by the pure fantastic thing about North Carolina’s Excessive Nation. When you go throughout the suitable time of yr because the leaves are altering, you would possibly suppose you’ve got discovered your self in essentially the most excellent place on Earth.
The stadium holds simply greater than 40,000, however what it’d lack in dimension it makes up for in noise. Followers in Boone create a booming environment that makes it a tricky place for highway groups from the minute they get off the bus. — Lyles
24. Gaylord Household-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Oklahoma Sooners, est. 1923
Factors: 40
Also referred to as the Palace on the Prairie, the Sooners’ stadium is surrounded by reminders of Oklahoma’s soccer glory. Exterior the south finish zone, there are statues of teaching legends Bennie Owen, Bud Wilkinson, Barry Switzer and Bob Stoops. On the east aspect, Heisman Park is full of seven of the Sooners’ Heisman Trophy winners: Billy Vessels (1952), Steve Owens (1969), Billy Sims (1978), Jason White (2003), Sam Bradford (2008), Baker Mayfield (2017) and Kyler Murray (2018).
Amid the Gothic structure of the encircling campus, “BOOMER” and “SOONER” ring out, because the Sooner Schooner glides throughout the sphere, forming some of the quintessentially faculty settings within the nation. — Wilson
25. Darrell Okay Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, Texas Longhorns, est. 1924
Factors: 38
When Bevo XV, 1,700 kilos of longhorn, ambles his approach down the ramp to the sphere, you might be already awash in Texana. The sport-day setting in Austin has improved by leaps and bounds in recent times as Texas has embraced the town round it: Exterior DKR, there are pregame festivities on Bevo Boulevard and free Longhorn Metropolis Limits concert events with name-brand headliners.
Inside, LED lights bathe greater than 100,000 followers in burnt orange whereas followers watch the Longhorns on Campbell-Williams Discipline, named for Earl and Ricky, Texas’ two Heisman Trophy winners. Add in a “Texas Fight!” chant and a efficiency by the 400-member Longhorn Band — the “Showband of the Southwest” — enjoying Huge Bertha II, the largest bass drum on this planet, and also you’ve obtained your self a Texas-sized social gathering. — Wilson
Others receiving votes: P1FCU Kibbie Dome, Idaho Vandals (36); Cotton Bowl (35); Kinnick Stadium, Iowa Hawkeyes (31); Albertsons Stadium, Boise State Broncos (24), Folsom Discipline, Colorado Buffaloes (21); LaVell Edwards Stadium, BYU Cougars (21); Franklin Discipline, Penn Quakers (18); Rice-Eccles Stadium, Utah Utes (17); Battle Memorial Stadium, Wyoming Cowboys (17); Milan Puskar Stadium, West Virginia Mountaineers (16); Boone Pickens Stadium, Oklahoma State Cowboys (14); Solar Bowl, UTEP Miners (13); Reser Stadium, Oregon State Beavers (8); Falcon Stadium, Air Pressure Falcons (7); Martin Stadium, Washington State Cougars (6); Aloha Stadium, Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (4); Williams-Brice Stadium, South Carolina Gamecocks (2).
