Football Stadiums: Lambeau Field and Soldier Field

As you stand in most of the modern baseball or football stadiums, you’re almost assured to see that they are built with a combination of reinforced concrete and steel. Did you know that two of the oldest stadiums in the National Football League (NFL) are also built with concrete?

Lambeau Field, the home field of the Green Bay Packers football team, is the oldest continually operating NFL stadium. Opened in 1957 as City Stadium, replacing the original City Stadium at Green Bay East High School as the Packers’ home field. Informally known as New City Stadium for its first eight seasons, it was renamed in August 1965 in memory of Packers founder, player, and long-time head coach, Earl “Curly” Lambeau, who had died two months earlier. The new stadium was the first modern stadium built specifically for an NFL franchise.

With a seating capacity of 81,441, Lambeau Field is the second-largest stadium in the NFL. In 2007, the Packers completed their 51st season at Lambeau, breaking the all-time NFL record set by the Chicago Bears at Wrigley Field (1921–1970).

Reinforced concrete and steel form the core load-bearing bowl, ramps, and multi-level concourses of the stadium structure. The concrete would include the first sixty rows of the sideline seats, or what today would be sections 111 to 127 on the east side and sections 112 to 128 on the west side. In the end zone, it would basically include the first twenty-one rows of sections 129 to 138 at the south end and sections 101 to 110 at the north end. The original wooden benches were replaced by aluminum in 1969.

The stadium made its debut on September 29, 1957, to rave reviews – and a rousing Packers victory over the rival Chicago Bears, 21–17.

Originally built between 1922 and 1924 as a World War I memorial, Soldier Field (historically often referred to as Soldiers’ Field) is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924, the stadium is the oldest in the NFL and has served as the home of the NFL’s Chicago Bears since 1971.

The stadium’s grandstands and concourse are built primarily with reinforced structural concrete. The historic exterior Doric colonnades of Soldier Field are constructed with precast and cast-in-place concrete that is designed to resemble granite. Soldier Field underwent a massive, controversial interior reconstruction in 2002–2003. The original columns were preserved, but a modern steel-and-concrete bowl was squeezed inside in a record 20 months, costing $632 million. As part of the renovations, the total seating capacity was reduced to 62,500 and a futuristic glass-and-steel bowl was tightly integrated inside the historic shell, which led to the venue losing its National Historic Landmark status in 2006. The reduction in seating makes Soldier Field the second-smallest stadium in the NFL.

The styles and designs of modern baseball and football stadiums have changed since these two historic icons were built, but one thing has remained constant – when it comes to the foundations of our sports arenas, just as when the Romans built the Colosseum, architects and designers count on concrete!