Stanford Stadium, Football stadium in Stanford, United States
Stanford Stadium is a concrete college football stadium on the Stanford University campus in Stanford, California. Rebuilt after the 2005 season, it has two decks of red and grey seats arranged in a continuous bowl around a natural grass field that runs northwest to southeast. The field is named the Louis W. Foster Family Field, and the stadium seats 50,424.
The first version opened in 1921 as a wooden bleacher structure holding 60,000 spectators and served as a university game venue for nearly a century. A complete rebuild followed in 2006, reducing capacity to just over 50,000 seats and creating modern facilities for players and visitors.
The stadium hosts Stanford's commencement exercises and, in 2025, the softball team's rivalry game against California drew an NCAA single-game record 13,207 spectators. Its name comes from the university, and the playing surface is called the Louis W. Foster Family Field after a 1935 graduate whose $10 million gift funded 1995 upgrades.
Elevators near Gates 4 and 5 connect the upper and lower seating areas and make access easier for wheelchair users, who find designated spaces in both levels. Visitors can use parking at the Varsity Lot, where reserved areas for people with mobility needs are available.
In 1962, a track meet between the USA and the Soviet Union took place here and ended with athletes from both nations walking together arm-in-arm around the running track. This event stands as a rare moment of athletic closeness during the tense period of the Cold War.
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