Top 10 Worst BCS Football Stadiums

College Football’s Top 10 Worst BCS Stadiums

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5. Floyd Casey Stadium (Baylor)

Floyd Casey Stadium is about four miles from Baylor’s campus, but why should anyone make the trip? Well, the stadium’s namesake is trying to give supporters a reason. Floyd Casey has given $5 million toward an $8 million renovation project, which has helped build Grant Teaff Plaza, which honors the program’s legendary coach. The Bears also installed SportGrass for its playing surface. But the stadium itself remains a bit amateurish. It’s an oval shape with its large grandstands along the sidelines and open end zones. To top it off, Baylor hasn’t had great teams over the years. The Bears are trying to turn that around. They made their first bowl game since 1994 last December. That’s progress, too bad you feel a mile away from the game while watching. Hey, give ‘em a stadium to match.

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4. Wallace Wade Stadium (Duke)

If you want to see a Duke basketball game – and we know you really, really do – then you have to promise to go to some Blue Devils football games. That’s part of the school’s football ticket sales plan. Yeah, we know it’s a bummer, right? Duke hasn’t made a bowl game or had a winning season since 1994. The last time the Devils truly were successful on the gridiron came in the 1980s under coach Steve Spurrier. That was a long time ago. But Duke’s Wallace Wade Stadium is just as bad then as it is now. It holds just 33,941 people; we’ve seen top-tier FCS programs draw more fans. Plus, it’s still got a track around the field like you would see at the high school level. All you need to know: When the stadium is filled to the brim, it’s mostly with opposing fans.

3. Vanderbilt Stadium (Vanderbilt)

Vanderbilt Stadium is going through a multi-million dollar reconstruction, which is much-needed, to say the least. The Commodores are sinking money into a program that has been a laughingstock in the SEC. Maybe, Vandy’s stadium seems worse in comparison to its peer venues. How can Vandy, known more for its math department than football program, compete with the home-field advantages in Gainesville, Knoxville and Tuscaloosa? First off, the fans are muted; granted, they don’t have much for which to cheer. The school finally removed the unpopular wooden bleachers from the north end zone in 2004. Yeah, only about a half-century too late. But Vandy has a 39,790-seat stadium playing in a conference in which schools get that many fans to the spring game.

2. Ryan Field (Northwestern)

If you’ve ever been to Ryan Field, you know this thing is an abomination of a stadium aesthetically. Opening during the Roaring Twenties, it seats under 50,000 people. Can anyone explain the need for an upper deck in a stadium that seats less than 50,000 people? It was renovated in 1996 but has been woefully neglected since then. Renovation plans are in the works but if you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig. It was a part of Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics, so is there any surprise that the IOC went with Rio instead?

1. Nippert Stadium (Cincinnati)

“The Nip” has been renovated six times, but none have left the venue with an environment fit for a BCS conference program. After all, Nippert Stadium has been around since (wait for it) 1902. There have been calls for an expansion to the 35,097-seat stadium. Before Brian Kelly left for Notre Dame, he was one of the biggest proponents of the improvements. The school has preliminary plans to add 15,000 seats to the stadium, according to reports, but that doesn’t change its amateur feel in its current state. Remember when Mardy Gilyard crashed into the stands in 2008? He’s lucky he wasn’t seriously injured and the university should be embarrassed by it. Bearcat football, which has surged recently, deserves better.

*Note: Texas Tech’s Jones AT&T Stadium was removed from this list

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1:59 PM on 8/1/2011

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Pea Weevil

USN&WR sees it much differently. They rank the Texas schools academically as follows: Rice, UT-Austin, A&M, SMU, Baylor, TCU, Tech, Houston, UNT and UTA. The latter two are 4th tier in their standards while Tech and Houston in their 3rd tier. They rank OU about even with TCU and OK State back in Tier 4 with the geographically named Texas schools.
a poorly constructed list

TCU definitely would have beat on tech pretty bad last year.
Brian Moore

Jack Trice is horrible, big boards or no.

Should be on the list until they tear it down.
MIZ

KU’s stadium definitely belongs on the list. Been there…..trashy. And it’s not my bias towards Missouri in which I obviously have, but really their athletic department desperately needs to dump some money into their stadium. Maybe if their stadium was upgraded they’d have a little more ambition to be competitive in the Big 12.
Roger

I’m an SEC guy and I love watching games at Nippert and Ryan Field. Those places have college football stadium looks. I guess the moron writing this article wants every college football stadium to look like a cookie cutter NFL stadium (a la Ralph Wilson Stadium)? Sorry, but I enjoy the look of all the odd ball college stadiums, many of which are on this list.
Jake

The worst I’ve seen…on the West Coast

1) San Diego State – plays in an outdated NFL stadium. Nothing in Aztec colors and maybe 3,000 fans in the stands, if you’re lucky.

2) Stanford – beautiful campus, smart kids, crappy stadium

3) Boise State – screams “I want to be a big guy”, but still very small time (blue turf is awful on HD).

4) San Jose State – place is held together by 2X4′s and duct tape. But no one notices, because no one goes to the games. Lock your car, bad area of town.
Said

these are some of my favorites. the small stadiums add to the unique atmosphere of college football.
SAL

I love Nippert. It’s cozy, it’s quirky, it’s comfortable…and when it’s packed for a big game, it rocks. Bigger isn’t necessarily better. No way Nippert is the worst BCS stadium. I think Nippert is jewel, and there probably isn’t a stadium better suited for getting reacquainted with your alma mater.

This is a lousy list.
BigUn

Here is an example of an article written by a guy who didn’t take that time to get his B*** on a plane and visit his subjects. He just googled the stadiums and looked at the pictures and then wrote an article.

Wonder why we are in debt up to our A****? We are LAZY
Sooner Nat’l Champs

So what, I think Tech hung 70 pts on TCU a couple years ago.
ASU Ram

Hey TCHS Frog, just so you are educated about Angelo State University…

About ASU:

Mission Statement: Angelo State University, a member of the Texas Tech University System, delivers undergraduate and graduate programs in the liberal arts, sciences, and professional disciplines. In a learning-centered environment distinguished by its integration of teaching, research, creative endeavor, service, and co-curricular experiences, ASU prepares students to be responsible citizens and to have productive careers.

Founded: 1928

President: Dr. Joseph C. Rallo

Affiliation: Texas Tech University System

Location: San Angelo, the center of a West Texas community of 100,000

Campus: 268 acres

Students: 6,856
Anonymous

LOL @ Nippert being listed the worst. This makes this list completely irrelevant.

Nippert is easily one of the best college football atmospheres in the country. Everything about it makes the place unique. The campus location, the closeness of the stands to the field, the surrounding brickwork and architecture…it blows most BCS stadiums out of the water.

These guys do sound like a bunch of NFL loving wannabees that want every stadium to be huge and look the same.
State 08

I can’t believe Martin Stadium and Nippert Stadium made the list. Those are two of the nicest stadiums and football atmopsheres I’ve ever experienced.

These guys that put this list together dont have a clue. They are just basing everything on stadium size and nothing more. If they truly are looking at atmosphere and environment and setting then there is no way either of those two would be anywhere near the 10 worst. They’d be much closer to the 10 best.
BoomerSooner

The first sentence says it all:

“Some college football stadiums hold more than 100,000 fans and are just as state-of-the-art as any you’ll find in the NFL.”

These clowns clearly dont get what college football is all about. The quirkiness, the unique stadiums and environments…That is what makes college football great.

These guys compare everything to state of the art NFL facilities. How stupid. Not wonder this list is so God Awful.
RigatoniCarloni

MIZ – you’ve been playing Kansas at Arrowhead too long. Memorial was upgraded several years ago. It was worthy of being on this list but doesn’t belong here now, IMHO. And I’m pretty sure I’ve been in more stadia than the author based on all of the comments about the info being outdated or simply incorrect.
Joe

UNLV’s Sam Boyd Stadium needs to be included in this list. Sam Boyd is old, out of date, and out in the middle of nowhere. It is clear on the eastern side of the Las Vegas valley, nowhere close to the UNLV campus. It is actually located next to the Las Vegas wash where all the rain and water run off drains into Lake Meade. The stadium does not even have a paved parking lot and fans are forced to tailgate in a dirt lot. There’s no restaurants, bars, shops, or anything remotely cool around the stadium for fans to hang out at. The stadium is empty most of the time, partly because the team is never good, and partly because nobody, including the students want to make the long trek out to the stadium.
Cuse44

I’ve been to 5 Big East football venues (Several games at the Carrier Dome, a few in Hartford, one in Piscataway, one in Louisville and one in Cincy).

Cincy’s stadium and atmosphere blow every other out of the water. I hate to admit it, but the Carrier Dome is the worst of the bunch.

As others have stated, the architecture around Nippert and UC’s campus in general is phenominal. Great fans, great football atmosphere and an overall great experience at UC. The fact that Nippert even made the list is pathetic.

How about actually visiting a few stadiums before you pass judgment next time?
ZZ33254ZZ

I have been to many, many College Stadiums & in no way Nippert close to the worse; in fact, it has been included in many lists of jewels of college stadiums – No one with half of brain can walk through the Cincy campus, into the middle of the campus, surrounded by what many consider to be the greatest collection & concentration of modern architecture in North America, into historic Nippert Stadium, sit down, ORDER A BEER & watch BCS football.
ZZ33254ZZ

Heck the picture of Nippert you published for the article shows Nippert to be a really cool stadium
The Source

It seems the author of this article has never really attended any games at any of these venues.
carnis99

Typical survey. In a similar survey last year, Wake Forest’s stadium was rated in the top 10 in the country. Goes to show surveys can say anything you want if you ask the questions (in)correctly – especially in politics.
trojanhorse

I agree with the comments about Baylor’s Floyd Casey Stadium. I’ve been to college games in at least 60 different stadiums and Baylor’s has the very best sight lines of any stadium I’ve been in. While the neighborhood around the stadium is a little dicey (although not as bad as some others around the country), it’s still a great venue in which to WATCH a game. I’ve been there twice; once my seats were between the 45 and 50 and the other time between the 20 and 25, and the seats closer to the goal line offered just as great a view of the action.
Brent

This list is a joke. I came from an SEC school and have been to most SEC stadiums which rank as some of the very best in the country, but Nippert stadium is one of the most unique stadiums in the nation and is not even close to being one of the worst. Whoever made this list obviously believes that the number of seats equates to the quality of the experience. That is dumb. Nippert gives you an intimate experience unlike any other in college football. You feel as though you are part of the action. The surrounding area is beautiful, especially at night. Go back and watch some games from the 2009 season and listen to the announcers talk about how Nippert feels like an SEC environment. Nippert is one of the few stadiums in all of college football where you get the intimacy of being near the field but you get the environment of a big time college stadium. There is nothing like it.
OkieJoe

RigatoniCarloni-

Putting 25 pleather lazy-boy recliners on the choral risers from Larryville Jr. High does not constitute a renovation. Sad that more people turn out for a track meet at that hole than a football game. When Kansas gets the boot & goes to Conference USA, that joke of a stadium will be exhibit A on why they’re there. What a disgrace to the real universities out there.
WakeFan

This is an absurd list. Just because a stadium is small doesn’t mean its bad. BB&T Field is a great place to watch a game. Good restrooms, concessions, and roomy concourses. There’s a nice new tower with luxury suites in it and a new HD video board is currently under construction.

Also, fwiw, BB&T is a commercial bank.
Joe

This author is obviously a loser and doesn’t deserve to be able to post his uneducated garbage. Do some research you hack. Seriously….have you ever written an original composition before? Time to visit Arby’s to see if you can pick up another shift.