Bigger and Better in Bryant-Denny

If you’re a newcomer to the UA campus, there’s no doubt that you have passed Bryant-Denny Stadium and for a brief moment stood in awe of the colossal structure. With its four spiral-staircases, sky-high bleachers, and Walk of Champions entrance, it can be quite an imposing sight. The question that I always find myself wondering is how Bryant-Denny Stadium has changed and evolved over the years. Upon further research, the Crimson Tide did not have an official stadium in which to play their games until 1929. The Quad and Denny Field, which used to stand where Parker-Adams Hall is today, was where the team played all of their games. On September 28^th, 1929, Alabama played for the first time ever in their own stadium, back then known as Denny Stadium, defeating Mississippi College in front of a sellout crowd of twelve thousand people. As both the university and Tuscaloosa grew in size, so did Denny Stadium. The stadium’s first expansion came in 1937 when six thousand seats were added to the east side of the stadium. In 1950 another six thousand seats were added to the east side. This brought the total number of seats to twenty-five thousand. It was not until 1961 that the next major expansion of the stadium would take place. During that year, Coach Bryant ordered six thousands seats to be added to each grandstand, the addition of a VIP section, and new fiberglass seat covers for the wooden bleachers. Not long after, in 1966, another expansion replaced the wooden bleachers on the north and south end zones with steel and concrete bringing the total capacity of the stadium to sixty thousand seats.

Jumping ahead to 1986, the stadium, now named Bryant-Denny, underwent yet another major expansion. This expansion involved adding an upper deck, two spiral tunnels, a new press box, and new lights for the roof. The new upper deck added another twelve thousand seats, which brought the capacity to seventy-two thousand seats. In 1998, a new upper deck and two spiral ramps where added to the east side. Private skyboxes were also added for the first time ever. The expansion brought the total capacity of the stadium to eighty-two thousand seats. The most recent expansion, completed in 2006, brought the stadium to ninety-two thousand seats and gave us the new Walk of Champions at the north end zone and a new upper deck. The current expansion, scheduled for completion for the 2010 season, will add a new upper deck to the south end zone. The stadium presently holds ninety-two thousand but with the school still expanding and the stadium still selling out, we could always see another expansion in the works.