Autzen Stadium

Prior to 1967, the Ducks' on-campus stadium was Hayward Field, which they shared with the track and field team. However, by the late 1950s, it had become apparent that Hayward Field was no longer suitable for the football team. It seated only 22,500 people, making it one of the smallest in the University Division (now Division I), and only 9,000 seats were available to the general public. While nearly every seat was protected from the elements, it had little else going for it. The stadium was in such poor condition that coaches deliberately kept prospective recruits from seeing it. As a result, the Ducks only played three home games per year on campus in most years; with the exception of the annual rivalry game with Oregon State, games that were likely to draw big crowds (against schools like Washington and USC) were played north in Portland at the larger Multnomah Stadium. With the recognition that the football team had outgrown the campus facility and with popular support to play the entire home schedule in Eugene for the first time in school history, Oregon athletic director Leo Harris led a campaign to build a new stadium on on the north bank of the Williamette River that the school had acquired for the purpose in the 1950s on his recommendation. School president Arthur Flemming was initially skeptical of the project, and asked Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to evaluate whether it was feasible to build a stadium on the north bank site, renovate Hayward Field, or build a new stadium on the Hayward footprint. The need for a new or expanded stadium had become acute with the implosion of the Pacific Coast Conference in 1959. Oregon had been left out of its successor, the Athletic Association of Western Universities (direct ancestor of the Pacific-12 Conference), and there was almost no chance of getting an invitation as long as the Ducks still played at Hayward Field. SOM concluded that the north bank site was the only feasible place for a stadium large enough to justify moving the entire home slate to Eugene. Hayward Field had not been built to code, which would have ruled out any possible expansion to 40,000-seats—thought to be the bare minimum capacity to allow all home games on campus. Its footprint was too small for a new stadium, and in any case the surrounding streets could not handle larger crowds. The elder Autzen was ironically an alumnus of Oregon archrival Oregon State University. In 1967, Oregon hosted Colorado in Autzen Stadium's inaugural game, a 17–13 loss before 27,500 on September 23. The stadium alternates with Oregon State's Reser Stadium as host of the annual rivalry game with the Beavers. Autzen hosted the inaugural Pac-12 Conference Championship game on December 2, 2011, as the Pac-12 North champion Ducks defeated the Pac-12 South champion UCLA Bruins. Playing surface Opened with natural grass in 1967, the field was switched to AstroTurf and lights were added for its third season in 1969. After seven years, it was replaced with new AstroTurf in 1976. Sand-based OmniTurf was installed in 1984 and 1991, and infilled NeXturf in 2001. The NeXturf was found to be overly slick when wet and lasted only one season, and was transferred to an intramural field. FieldTurf made its debut in Autzen in 2002, and was replaced in 2010. With up to 8 feet (2.4 m) of gravel fill underneath the field, the original crown of the natural grass field was moderate, with the center of the field approximately one foot (0.30 m) higher than the sidelines. The crown was removed in 2010, and the surface is now flat. ==Renovations==

In 1982, a $650,000 meeting room complex, the Donald Barker Stadium Club, was opened on the east rim above the end zone. It gave the stadium its first meeting facilities, A proposal to enclose the stadium within a dome was given serious consideration in 1985. New tax laws on contributions altered the feasibility, and the overall project was scaled back. In 1988, a $2.3 million renovation built a new press box on the south side of the stadium and converted the original north side press box to luxury suites. In 2020 the east end-zone scoreboard was replaced with a new 186’ x 66’ video screen on the east end of the stadium, making it the largest video board in college football. The video board will also house a smaller outward-facing 47’ x 26’ video board visible to fans arriving to the stadium. ==Stadium records==

The highest attendance at Autzen was 60,129 on October 12, 2024, when the Ducks beat Ohio State, 32–31. This stands as the second largest crowd for a sporting event in the state of Oregon, with the largest being the CART Portland 200 IndyCar event in 1993, which claimed an estimated attendance of 63,000. From 1997 to 2001, the Ducks had a 24-game home winning streak at Autzen Stadium, which ended with a 49–42 loss to Stanford. In 2011, the USC Trojans defeated the Ducks 38–35, ending a 21-game home winning streak as the Trojans handed Chip Kelly his first loss at Autzen as head coach. before 59,277 in 2007 ==Attendance==

Sellout. Conference Championship Game. Attendance Record. 1 – Thursday Night Game. 2 – Friday Night Game. 3 – ESPN's College GameDay. 4 – CFP Home Game. ==Location and configuration==

The stadium is located just north of the Willamette River, next to Alton Baker Park. Students typically walk to the stadium from the University of Oregon campus over the Autzen Footbridge, which passes over the Willamette, then through Alton Baker Park. The FieldTurf playing field is at an elevation of above sea level and is laid out in a non-traditional east-west orientation, slightly skewed so that players will not have the sun shining in their eyes in late fall. ==Crowd noise==

Autzen is known for its crowd noise. Due to the stadium's relatively small footprint, the fans are very close to the action, and the field is sunken. These factors contribute to the loudness of the stadium even though it is smaller than other 'noise comparable' stadiums. According to many in the Pac-12, from Oregon's resurgence in the mid-1990s until the most recent expansion in 2002, Autzen was even louder because the noise reverberated all the way up the stadium and bounced back down to the field—the so-called "Autzen bounce." Oregon officials say that any future expansions will trap more noise. On October 27, 2007, during a 24–17 victory against the USC Trojans, a then-record crowd of 59,277 fans was recorded at 127.2 decibels. A similarly loud 31–27 upset of third-ranked Michigan in 2003 prompted Michigan Daily columnist J. Brady McCollough to write Michigan coach Lloyd Carr later said that Autzen Stadium was the loudest stadium he'd ever been in. In 2006, a Sporting News columnist named Autzen the most intimidating college football stadium in the nation. Lee Corso of ESPN College Gameday frequently says, "Per person Autzen Stadium is the loudest stadium that I have ever been in my entire life!" Longtime ABC sportscaster Keith Jackson called Autzen "Per square yard, the loudest stadium in the history of the planet." Following the September 6, 2014 game against the Michigan State Spartans, Michigan sports reporter Mike Griffin of MLive.com accused Oregon of piping in artificial noise that contributed to the Ducks' victory over the Spartans. ==Traditions==

Since 1990, Don Essig, the stadium's PA announcer since 1968, has declared that "It never rains in Autzen Stadium" before each home game as the crowd chants along in unison. He often prefaces it with the local weather forecast, which quite often includes some chance of showers, but reminds fans that "we know the real forecast..." or "let's tell our friends from (visiting team name) the real forecast..." If rain is actually falling before the game, Essig will often dismiss it as "a light drizzle", or "liquid sunshine" but not actual rain by Oregon standards. Between the first and second quarter, the song "Coming Home" by Eugene native Mat Kearney is played. Although Kearney did not attend the school, the song references the state and the music video was filmed in the stadium. Also, because of the use of Autzen Stadium and the University of Oregon campus in ''National Lampoon's Animal House'', the toga party scene of the movie featuring the song "Shout" is played at the end of the third quarter, with the crowd dancing to the song. Prior to the football team taking the field, a highlight video of previous games is shown on the jumbotron, nicknamed "Duckvision". The last highlight on the clip is almost always Kenny Wheaton's game-clinching 97-yard interception return for a touchdown against the Washington Huskies in 1994. "The Pick" is often seen as the turning point for Oregon football, which went on to the Rose Bowl that year and have enjoyed success for the most part ever since after years of losing records. After the video, the team takes the field behind a motorcycle with the Oregon Duck riding on back to the strains of Mighty Oregon. This is followed by the north side of the stadium chanting "GO" with the south side chanting "DUCKS!". After every Duck score and win, a train horn blares. In addition, the Oregon Duck mascot does as many pushups as Oregon has points at that time. ==ESPN College Gameday==

ESPN's College GameDay program came to Eugene for games played in Autzen Stadium six straight years, from 2009 through 2014, the most of any other school during that period. Overall, GameDay has made thirteen visits to Oregon, most recently in 2025 against the Indiana Hoosiers, and the Ducks have been a part of 34 GameDay broadcasts, either at Autzen or as a visiting team. Oregon has the tenth most appearances, posting a record. ==Other uses==

Autzen Stadium is the largest sports arena in the state of Oregon. In 1970, the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Denver Broncos 23-7 in an exhibition game at Autzen Stadium in front of a crowd of 26,238. State high school football championship games were played at Autzen Stadium until 2006. It also hosts football camps, coaches' clinics, marching band competitions, and musical concerts. Nitro Circus Live was held at the stadium in 2016 and 2018. Concerts The Grateful Dead used the stadium as a tour stop ten times between 1978 and 1994, including a 1987 show with Bob Dylan during which a portion of their collaborative live album entitled Dylan & the Dead was recorded. In Film It was also used as the location for the fictional Faber College football stadium in the 1978 movie, ''National Lampoon's Animal House''. There is a well-known geographical error made during a scene set inside the stadium when Pacific-10 conference banners can clearly be seen in the background, even though the fictional Faber College is supposed to be located in Tennessee as shown by the state flag in the hearing room for the Delta House probation case. Soccer On July 24, 2016, Autzen Stadium hosted a 2016 International Champions Cup match between Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain, which was won by Paris Saint-Germain by a score of 3-1. ==See also==