Dacotah Field is an outdoor stadium in the north central

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, on the campus of

North Dakota State University North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as t ...

(NDSU) in Fargo,

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

. It is the former home of the NDSU Bison football team. The field runs east-west at an approximate

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of above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. Dacotah Field opened in 1910, north of Festive Hall on campus. A quarter-mile cinder track and a 7,000-seat stadium were added in 1938 as part of one of the federal government's

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(WPA) construction projects; it had a final

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 13,000. The field moved farther north in 1949 to its present location, completed in time for the

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

season. A 1952 fire destroyed two-thirds of the north stands but, in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

, the remaining wooden bleachers were replaced with a new 7,000-seat grandstand, courtesy of the New England Patriots. NDSU won its final game at Dacotah Field in 1992 and still uses the turf for practice and high school games. In

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

, the team moved to the 18,700-seat

Fargodome Fargodome is an indoor athletic stadium in the north central United States, located on the campus of North Dakota State University (NDSU) in Fargo, North Dakota. Opened in late 1992, the facility is owned by the City of Fargo and built on unive ...

, adjacent to the north. In 2013, the NDSU women's soccer team moved from Ellig Sports Complex to Dacotah Field. Major renovations were completed prior to the move, including new bleacher seating, lighting, sound system, and scoreboard; its seating capacity was reduced to 2,600 during the renovations. In

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, a $1 million project added a roof to enable year-round use as a multi-use event and practice facility. The

air-supported structure An air-supported (or air-inflated) structure is any building that derives its structural integrity from the use of internal pressurized air to inflate a pliable material (i.e. structural fabric) envelope, so that air is the main support of the st ...

hosted its first football practice on December 1, and new artificial turf was installed in the summer of 2017.

References

External links

Dacotah Field historyNDSU Campus Building Directory
North Dakota State Bison football Defunct college football venues Sports venues in North Dakota Buildings and structures in Fargo, North Dakota 1910 establishments in North Dakota College soccer venues in the United States Sports venues completed in 1910 Soccer venues in North Dakota High school football venues in the United States American football venues in North Dakota {{NorthDakota-stadium-stub