Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field

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Named for Don Magruder Scott, an Olympic sprinter and one of the University's first football stars, the 90-year-old historic facility (the nation's second-oldest Division I-A campus football stadium) has undergone four renovation and expansion projects during its history. The latest expansion, which raised capacity of the stadium to 55,082, began in the summer of 2000 with the construction of 50 skyboxes and 1,700 club-level seats. The expansion continued into the 2001 season with the addition of 7,000 upper deck seats. The entire project, completed at a cost in excess of $30 million, was made possible, in large part, by a financial commitment from the late Floyd Davis Wade Sr., of Meridian, Miss., for whom the stadium itself is now named. The 2001-02 construction was just the most recent major expansion project that has occurred at the stadium's present site. Earlier building efforts in 1936 and 1948 brought capacity at Scott Field to 35,000 seats and provided the basic concrete grandstand structure (35 years after the '48 expansion, the end zone seating structures were removed, lowering the capacity to 32,000 in 1983). But after 25 years, Scott Field was ready for another facelift and an expanded seating potential for the school's growing following. A $7.2 million drive in 1986, spearheaded by former MSU athletic director Carl Maddox and an active group of university and community leaders, financed the addition of 9,000 seats to Scott Field's capacity without the use of appropriated state funding. A 5,500-seat upper deck, an additional 1,700 chairback seats that extend from the stadium's original structure, and another 1,000 chairback seats flanking the Bob Hartley Press Box on the second level were added to the west side. Two 1,700-seat sections were added to the east side stands to bring capacity to 40,656. That project also brought the installation of a permanent lighting system and a computerized scoreboard with message center. That video display was upgraded in the summer of 1997 to a multi-million dollar Sony JumboTron, installed in the north end zone. In addition to providing normal scoreboard functions, the big screen displays large-scale videos, including on-site replays and national interconnectivity. Other improvements to the stadium have also been made. In the summer of 1999, the Turman Fieldhouse on the south end of the stadium underwent many changes, including enhanced dressing rooms for both teams and a new recruiting lounge for Bulldog football prospects. The third floor addition to the Turman Fieldhouse -- the Leo Seal M-Club -- houses a heritage room and game-day gathering place for former Bulldog athletes, and serves as one of the campus' more popular meeting places. The $1.4 million project, completed in 1990, was made possible through the generosity of MSU alumnus and former Bulldog football letterman Leo Seal Jr., who named the building in honor of his father, also a two-year football letterwinner at State. Gradually earning the reputation of being one of the nation's toughest places to play, the facility has been host to average attendances within 85 percent of capacity in each of the last 13 years as tickets for Bulldog home games have become increasingly scarce. Since 1991, MSU has sold season tickets in school-record proportions, nearing or surpassing the 25,000-mark in each of the last 13 seasons. In fact, MSU has sold in excess of 30,000 season tickets prior to the last two seasons. MSU, which won 16-straight home games between 1998-2000, averaged a school-record 48,291 fans for its six home games in 2002, and neared that mark again in '03. Scott Field's playing surface is lush Prescription Athletic Turf (PAT), complete with an underground drainage and irrigation system. The field is encircled by a holly-lined sideline fence and end zone landscaping.