Teams With Two Home Stadiums

[Wolverine]

For many years a number of major programs played their home games at two venues (this excludes neutral sites such as Jacksonville [Georgia-Florida] and Philadelphia [Army-Navy] where one team was designated as the home team and wore the appropriate colors).

Though Bama's true home is Tuscaloosa they used to play some games in Birmingham every year. Auburn also played some games there until the late 70s (they played Bama in Birmingham as recently as 1998). Rutgers used to play games in the Meadowlands in the 80s (I went to one), but haven't since 1996. Mississippi and Mississippi State always played some games in Jackson but haven't done so for about 10 years.

This year the following played home games away from their traditional home:

Arkansas - Little Rock (Louisiana-Monroe)
Arkansas State - Little Rock (Oklahoma State)
Bowling Green - Cleveland (Wisconsin)
Clemson - Charlotte (Temple)
Colorado - Colorado State (Denver)
Middle Tennessee State - Nashville (Louisville)
Navy - Baltimore (Notre Dame)
Texas A&M - San Antonio (Army)
Washington State - Seattle (Baylor)

Apparently Arkansas is the only one that's doing so on an annual basis.

[brady_branch]

Could've sworn Maryland played one in Baltimore... guess not.

[redlegsfan21]

In know in 2009, the Buckeyes and Toledo Rockets are playing in Cleveland.

[Wolverine]

Maryland played Navy in Baltimore last year. They played Georgia Tech in Baltimore in 1998.

This was my source for the 2006 venues:

http://www.jhowell.net/cf/scores/Sked2006.htm

I've done a little more research on a few schools. Generally the practice was most common in the South.

Bama - In addition to Birmingham they played quite a few games in Mobile in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Their last game in Mobile was against Southern Miss in 1968. They also played some games in Montgomery, the last in 1954, also against SM.

Syracuse - Played all their home games on the road in 1979 when the Carrier Dome was under construction. Two were played in Buffalo, two in East Rutherford, and one in Ithaca. They played Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium in 1963.

Tennessee - Played Wyoming in Nashville in 2002. Played a number of games in Memphis over the years, the last against Ole Miss in 1996.

Florida - Played Miss St in Orlando in 1991. Played 11 games in Tampa from the late 60s to the mid 80s. Played many games in Jacksonville prior to the mid-60s (4 in 1928 alone).

Georgia - Played a few games in Augusta in the 20s. Always played Auburn in Columbus until 1958, though this was more of a neutral site affair. Interesting that for many years Georgia played two of their biggest games at neutral sites.

LSU - Played many games in Shreveport in the 20s and 30s. Last played there during the regular season in 1975 (Rice).

Michigan - Their last home game outside of Ann Arbor was against Carlisle in 1901.

Ohio State - Played a few games in Cleveland, the last in 1991 against Northwestern. They had not played there since 1944.

USC - Played three games in Pasadena in 1922, plus in the Rose Bowl on January 1, 1923. Apparently have not moved a home game since the Coliseum opened.

Penn State - Played three games in Philadelphia in the 20s and 30s.

Source for historical scores:

http://www.jhowell.net/cf/scores/byName.htm

[efin98]

Fenway Park used to be the alternate home site for Boston University and Boston College prior to both schools opening large home stadiums in the mid-50s, particuarly for the annual Boston College-Holy Cross game.

[Wolverine]

Roll the mouse over "football" and you can see how Fenway was configured for BC and BU games:

http://andrewclem.com/Baseball/FenwayPark.html

I think BU usually played at Braves Field. In any case, the right field pavillion of that park survives as part of BU's Nickerson Field:

http://www.ballparktour.com/Former_Boston.html

[Wolverine]

A few more examples:

Oklahoma - Played 6 games in Oklahoma City in 1943-44. Also played at least one game there each year 1914-1919.

Oklahoma State - Played Nebraska in Kansas City in 1998.

Missouri - Played Baylor and Air Force in St Louis in 1970, Illinois in 1969. Played a number of games in Kansas City, MO from 1901 to 1945, generally against Kansas.

Indiana - Played about a dozen games in Indianapolis, 1900-1924.

Until 1960 Indiana also voluntarily played many home games at their opponents' stadiums. For example, they played Michigan most years in the 40s and 50s but only once in Bloomington. When they won the Big Ten in 1945 they only played one conference game at home (Purdue).

[brady_branch]

Fenway looks to me to be more suited to football than baseball in terms of dimensions. It's probably the only current non-domed MLB stadium I'd say that for, though.

[efin98]

I think BU usually played at Braves Field. In any case, the right field pavillion of that park survives as part of BU's Nickerson Field:

http://www.ballparktour.com/Former_Boston.html

They would play at Fenway instead of Braves Field because Fenway was better suited for football than Braves Field was. Their primary fied was out in Weston, MA(long gone under I90) so they would play the larger schools in Boston in Fenway like BC did.

[Wolverine]

At Post 11 there's a picture of a football game at Fenway in 1934. October 12 was a Friday that year, so this might have been a high school game:

http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=23734

[Ladder]

Roll the mouse over "football" and you can see how Fenway was configured for BC and BU games:

http://andrewclem.com/Baseball/FenwayPark.html



that kicks ass!!!!!!!!

[Ladder]

At Post 11 there's a picture of a football game at Fenway in 1934. October 12 was a Friday that year, so this might have been a high school game:

http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=23734
you are probably right. they look like little boys.

[efin98]

At Post 11 there's a picture of a football game at Fenway in 1934. October 12 was a Friday that year, so this might have been a high school game:

http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=23734

I doubt it, the only date that high schools would play there would be Thanksgiving and the playoffs, both over a month later.

I'm leaning towards either BC vs. Holy Cross or BC vs. Fordham or one of the other New York schools.

[Wolverine]

I doubt it, the only date that high schools would play there would be Thanksgiving and the playoffs, both over a month later.

I'm leaning towards either BC vs. Holy Cross or BC vs. Fordham or one of the other New York schools.

It's BC versus Fordham. The Rams won 6-0:

http://www.jhowell.net/cf/scores/Fordham.htm

I believe this was Vince Lombardi's sophomore year at Fordham, so he might be somewhere in the pile but more likely on the bench.

[redlegsfan21]

Cincinnati has used Paul Brown Stadium as a second home during 2002 most notably a record for attendance at a football game in the city of Cincinnati during the OSU-UC game which I'm sure has been broken with the resurgence of the Bengals.

[Chevy114]

I think it would be cool to have 2 stadiums on a regular basis like alabama who would play in burmingham once a year. The problem is I hated going to jacksonville for fsu games, if I was still in college that would have annoyed me, how do other schools accept it?

[Wolverine]

I think it would be cool to have 2 stadiums on a regular basis like alabama who would play in burmingham once a year. The problem is I hated going to jacksonville for fsu games, if I was still in college that would have annoyed me, how do other schools accept it?

The short answer is "They don't."

Alabama versus Auburn is a good example. For years the game was played in Birmingham, which Auburn hated because Birmingham is very much a Bama town. They lobbied constantly for the game to alternate between Auburn and either Birmingham or Tuscaloosa. Not until 1989 was there a game at Auburn. For a whle the venue went back and forth between the three cities, but eventually it became a home and home affair. The game hasn't been played in Birmingham since 1998. That was the last time Auburn played a game there. Bama has played several but none since 2003.

One reason teams played home games elsewhere was that campus stadiums often were not all that large. However, over the last 40 years many schools have either built new stadiums or greatly expanded existing ones. I haven't checked but the stadiums at Auburn and Tuscaloosa now may be larger than Legion Field.

[efin98]

I haven't checked but the stadiums at Auburn and Tuscaloosa now may be larger than Legion Field.

Auburn has just over 85,000 capacity.
Alabama has jus over 92,000 capacity.
Legion Field has just over 83,000 capacity.

Sources I have read say that only when the capacities were greater at Jordan-Hare Stadium and at Bryant-Denny Stadium was the game finanlly moved away from Legion Field...simply more room at their real homes than at Legion Field.

[wvkeeper]

Also remember the entire upper deck at Legion Field has ben roped off because of its instability.