Scott Stadium

Scott Stadium

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Scott Stadium

</div> </div> Scott Stadium, located in Charlottesville, Virginia, is the home of the Virginia Cavaliers football team. It sits at the heart of the University of Virginia Grounds, across from first-year dorms on Alderman Road. Constructed in 1931, it is the oldest Division I football stadium in the state of Virginia and has been home to Atlantic Coast Conference football games since 1954. It occassionally hosts other events, such as a recent event when the Dave Matthews Band played to a sold out crowd on the band's home turf (see photo at right).

Known for its classical construction (with features such as the pergola) as well as its unique "grass-seating" area called The Hill, Scott Stadium is regarded as one of the best places in America to watch a college football game. The stadium, which holds 61,500, is large for a school of just 13,000 undergraduates and 6,000 graduates, but is it now filled to and even past capacity regularly.

Built as a replacement for the old Lambeth Field or "Colonnades," Scott Stadium bears the name of donor and University Rector Frederic Scott, and held 25,000 spectators at opening. The stadium was considered one of the most beautiful facilities in the nation with a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and specifically Monticello Mountain out the south end of the stadium. An artificial turf system was installed in 1974, making impossible a long tradition of a mounted Cavalier riding into the stadium with the football team. David A. Harrision III provided a gift allowing natural grass to be reinstalled in the stadium, and the Cavalier has ridden into Scott, waving his sabre high, every game since 1995.

The first expansion to the stadium's capacity came in 1981, when upper decks and grass hill seating allowed 41,000 fans. Carl Smith's donations helped make the most recent contributions to Scott Stadium in 2000, filling in the upper deck and south end to allow 61,000 fans, and installing the pergola, state of the art lighting and gigantic audio/visual tower known as "Hoovision." While the dramatic view of the Blue Ridge was lost in this expansion, Scott Stadium remains a sight to behold. The facility's official name, a result of this string of donations, may be the longest for a sports venue in the United States, and possibly the world: The Carl Smith Center, Home of David A. Harrison III Field at Scott Stadium.

A new tradition has recently taken hold at Scott Stadium. Beginning near the end of 2003 and accelerating through 2004, students, fans, and alumni have taken to wearing orange shirts -- and even orange hats -- to each of the games (particularly the important ones). Previously, males would wear coats and ties while females would wear sundresses, which is also the tradition at Auburn, Georgia, and Ole Miss.

Though ties and especially sundresses can still be easily found at Virginia football games, many have compromised to wearing ties with orange shirts. Some very creative ladies have even been spotted in orange sundresses! However, many more students have begun wearing orange t-shirts (with slogans like "Orange Crush", "Orange Fever", and "Sea of Orange") and abandoning the coats and ties or sundresses altogether. See image at left and notice the orange-colored student section, to the left of where the band was sitting. (There are actually two UVa bands present at each game in the stadium, the official Cavalier Marching Band, and the Virginia Pep Band, which has been relieved of its official gameday duties).