Rice-Eccles Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah, on the campus of the University of Utah. It is the home field of the Utah Utes of the Pac-12 Conference. It served as the main stadium for the 2002 Winter Olympics; the Opening and Closing Ceremonies were held at the stadium, which was temporarily renamed "Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium".
The FieldTurf playing field runs in the traditional north-south configuration, and sits at an elevation of 4,637 feet (1,413 m) above sea level, 400 feet (120 m) above downtown Salt Lake City.
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History
When Salt Lake City was awarded the 2002 Winter Olympics in 1995, it was obvious that Rice Stadium, the largest outdoor stadium in Salt Lake City, 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, a Utah alumnus and chairman of Utah's biggest bank, First Security Corporation (now part of Wells Fargo), announced that the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation would donate $10 million toward the project. In recognition of this gift, the U of U received permission from the Eccles family to add George Eccles's name to the stadium alongside that of Robert L. Rice, 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.
Renovations
Immediately after the final home game on November 15, fittingly a 31-14 victory over Rice, 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. The stadium did not miss a football season, as the project was timed not to disrupt the 1997 home schedule. The new stadium was ready less than 10 months later for the 1998 home opener, a 45-22 win over Louisville on September 12. The stadium now seats 45,807 and has a 6-story press box. As of 2014, a row of bleachers has been added in the standing room areas on the east, west and north sections of Rice-Eccles Stadium. 40 ADA seats were also added for a total of 790 new seats, bringing the capacity of Rice-Eccles Stadium to 45,807 (from 45,017). There will still be space for standing room behind the new row of bleachers.
In June 2010, the U of U accepted an invitation to join the Pacific-10 Conference (which changed its name to the Pac-12 Conference shortly after the Utah Utes and the Colorado Buffaloes joined) and began playing in the conference during 2011-2012 season. It is expected that Rice-Eccles Stadium is to be expanded and the locker room facilities upgraded. This claim was furthered when both KSL.com and the Deseret News reported that the university was seriously considering expanding the stadium by at least 10,000 seats, which would bring the total stadium capacity to somewhere between 55,000 and 60,000.
Features
Olympic Cauldron Park
Immediately south of the stadium is the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park, which contains a 2002 Winter Olympic museum, the Olympic cauldron, and other memorabilia from the games. Hoberman Arch was located there until its removal in October 2014.
Playing surface
Since 2002, the playing field at Rice-Eccles Stadium has been FieldTurf, a next-generation infilled synthetic turf, which was most recently replaced in 2009.
When the stadium reopened in 1998, its surface was SportGrass, a hybrid of natural grass and artificial turf. Earlier, Rice Stadium had been among the first facilities to use SportGrass. A full natural grass was installed in 2000 for two seasons, then was covered by asphalt blacktop for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in February.
Usage
2002 Winter Olympics and 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 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 was also held in the stadium on March 7, 2002.
Concerts
The Rolling Stones played there three times: In October 1994, when the venue was known as Rice Stadium, during their Voodoo Lounge Tour, and in 2002 during their Licks Tour.
U2 were scheduled to kick off the third leg of their 360° Tour there, on June 3, 2010, but it was postponed, due to Bono's emergency back surgery. They returned on May 24, 2011, with The Fray as their opening act.
Real Salt Lake
Rice-Eccles Stadium was also the home field of the Major League Soccer franchise Real Salt Lake from 2005 until October 2008, when Rio Tinto Stadium was opened in the suburb of Sandy, south of Salt Lake City.
Utah Utes
Rice-Eccles Stadium replaced Rice Stadium, the former home field of the Utah Utes football team. The first Utes game at the stadium was a 45-22 victory over the Louisville Cardinals held on September 12, 1998, with 44,112 in attendance. The Utes had a 53-16 record at the stadium through the 2009 season.
Other events
The stadium hosted a round of the AMA Supercross Championship from 2001 to 2004, 2009 to 2013 and 2017.
Attendance records
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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