Bobby Dodd Stadium
"The Flats" | |
 | |
| Former names | Grant Field (1914-1988) |
|---|---|
| Location | 155 North Ave., N.W. Atlanta, GA 30332 |
| Owner | Georgia Tech |
| Operator | Georgia Tech |
| Capacity | 55,000 |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1913 |
| Construction cost | $15,000 (original west stands) $75 million (Latest expansion) |
| Tenants | |
| Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (NCAA) (1913-Present) | |
Bobby Dodd Stadium is the football stadium located at the corner of North Avenue NW at Techwood Drive NW on the campus of Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. The stadium is primarily home to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team, often referred to as the "Ramblin' Wreck." The team participates in NCAA Division 1-A athletics as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The stadium is located on the east side of the Georgia Tech campus, across from freshman housing facilities and just a short walk to the campus library and fraternity/sorority row. The facility is located in midtown Atlanta, just off of Interstate 75/85 (the "Downtown Connector"), across from the famed Varsity restaurant. The stadium's atmosphere is unique in its setting, with a picturesque view of the downtown and midtown Atlanta skylines looming overhead during games.
It was previously known as Grant Field, and in fact the playing surface itself, as opposed to the stadium, is still styled as such. It is the oldest continuously-used site for college football in the southern U.S., and oldest currently in Division I-A. When originally built in 1913 it was constructed by members of the Georgia Tech student body. The current, modern grandstands cover the old ones, which are still intact underneath them. Grant Field was occasionally used as a site for Atlanta Falcons games during the team's early years when it was sharing Fulton County Stadium with the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball and there were scheduling conflicts. It was not used for any events in the 1996 Summer Olympics. The current configuration can seat 55,000 spectators.
The stadium bears little, if any, resemblance to its original form, having been expanded many times. The field originally consisted of just a west grandstands for 5,600. By 1925, the west and south stands were completed, making the stadium a horseshoe-shaped one which opened north. The west stands were rebuilt and a large press box was added in 1947, bringing capacity up to 44,000. The original all-steel 4,105-seat North stands were erected in 1958, and in 1962 and 1968 the upper decks were added to the East and West sides, respectively. In 1985 the South stands were razed to make room for the William C. Wardlaw Center, a modern field house and athletic office facility to replace the facilities in the old Heisman Gym, which was located just to the north of the stadium. In 2001, seating was returned to the South end in front of the Wardlaw Center, and the gym and the original North stands were razed to make way for a major expansion, which was completed in 2003 and brought the stadium to its current capacity. The resulting stadium looks slightly quirky, due to its location being so close to the corner of North Ave NW and Techwood Drive NW, and the 2001 expansion having a much larger upper deck than either side of the stadium. (In fact, the east stands' upper deck and corresponding concourse hang over the sidewalk of Techwood Drive NW.)
Bobby Dodd Stadium is named in honor of Robert Lee "Bobby" Dodd, longtime football coach and athletic director at Georgia Tech. The field is named for Hugh Inman Grant, son of John W. Grant, a well-known Atlanta merchant and original benefactor of the stadium.
Some students have had sex on the 50 yard line.
External link
 | This Atlanta, Georgia–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |