Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field, previously known as Clifford B. and Audrey Jones Stadium, Jones SBC Stadium and Jones AT&T Stadium, is an outdoor athletic

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

in the

southwestern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

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 territorie ...

, located on the campus of

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...

. Built in the style of

Spanish Renaissance architecture Spanish Renaissance architecture was that style of Renaissance architecture in the last decades of the 15th century. Renaissance evolved firstly in Florence and then Rome and other parts of the Italian Peninsula as the result of Renaissance huma ...

, it is the home field of the

Texas Tech Red Raiders The Texas Tech Red Raiders and Lady Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, Texas. The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders, while the school's other women's teams use the "Red Raide ...

of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

History

Planning and funding

Clifford B. and Audrey Jones Stadium opened in

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

, with a

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 27,000. It was named after Texas Tech's third president (1939–1944) and his wife, who donated $100,000 towards its construction. The inaugural game was held on November 29, with

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

defeating Hardin–Simmons 14–6.

Expansion

The stadium's first expansion in

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

raised the seating to 41,500. The existing east stands were moved a few feet at a time via steel rollers upon

Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and S ...

rails and moved further east, and the playing surface was lowered below street level to accommodate the new lower bowl. It was expanded again 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 Solar time, me ...

with new red metal seats on the north side, increasing capacity to 48,000.

Modernization

The largest renovation project to date was the construction of a $51.9 million, press box on the stadium's west side that included luxury suites, club seating and decks for television cameras and the

press Press may refer to: Media * Print media or news media, commonly called "the press" * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers * Press TV, an Iranian television network People * Press (surname), a fam ...

. The project added 2,000 seats and was completed during the

2003 season 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

. The stadium name was changed to Jones SBC Stadium in 2000 due to a

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...

agreement with

SBC Communications The history of AT&T dates back to the invention of the telephone. The Bell Telephone Company was established in 1877 by Alexander Graham Bell, who obtained the first US patent for the telephone, and his father-in-law, Gardiner Greene Hubbard. Bell ...

, then being led by Texas Tech alumnus and CEO

Edward Whitacre, Jr. Edward Earl Whitacre Jr. (born November 4, 1941) is the former Chairman and CEO of General Motors. He is also a former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of AT&T, previously Southwestern Bell Corporation (SBC). He served as nati ...

SBC Communications funded a large part of the stadium's West Stadium Club expansion. On April 6, 2006, the facility officially changed names again, this time to Jones AT&T Stadium as a result of SBC's purchase of

AT&T Corporation AT&T Corporation, originally the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is the subsidiary of AT&T Inc. that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agen ...

and adoption of AT&T as its new corporate name. For 2006, the stadium was upgraded with a $2 million inner field wall that matches the traditional Texas Tech style brick façade. An inscribing of

the Matador Song "The Matador Song", which dates from 1930, is the school song of the Texas Tech University Texas Tech Red Raiders, Red Raiders. History The song was created as part of a contest sponsored by the school newspaper, then known as ''The Daily Toreado ...

at the

Double T The Double T is a logo that is the most readily identified symbol of Texas Tech University. History The Double T is generally attributed to Texas Tech University's, then Texas Technological College, first football coach, E. Y. Freeland, and as ...

in the north and south end zones was also added. In February 2006, the university announced plans to add $60 million worth of upgrades including additional luxury suites, a 1,000-car parking garage, an upper deck, a facade on the east side of the stadium and more seating. The entire project was set to begin following the 2006 season but was cancelled before being re-initiated as a different project in 2008.

East Side Building

On August 7, 2008, the Texas Tech Board of Regents announced a $25 million expansion project. The planned expansion added a

Spanish Renaissance The Spanish Renaissance was a movement in Spain, emerging from the Italian Renaissance in Italy during the 14th century, that spread to Spain during the 15th and 16th centuries. This new focus in art, literature, quotes and science inspired b ...

-themed façade to the east side of the stadium. In addition to the improvements to the exterior of the facility, the expansion added 1,000 general-admission seats, 550 club seats, and 26 suites. Texas Tech allocated a total of $19 million to the expansion and added another $6 million through fund-raising initiatives. On November 20, 2008, university officials announced that the project's fundraising goal had been exceeded. Most of the money came from private donations, including a large contribution from AT&T and a $1 million matching gift from Texas Tech System Board of Regents member, Larry Anders. A small amount of the funds was delegated to come from future ticket sales. Groundbreaking ceremonies for the expansion took place on November 29, 2008. Construction began following the 2008 season, and was completed in 2010, bringing the total amount of suites to 89 and seating capacity to 60,454.

North end zone

In May 2009, it was announced an additional 6,100 seats would be added in the northeast and northwest end zones by mid-season. The additional general admission seating was opened in the north end of the stadium on October 24, 2009, bringing capacity at that time to 58,930. In January 2013, construction began adding another 368 seats in the north end zone, in addition to an observation decks that holds 40. The $16 million project also included a significantly upgraded jumbotron with a new sound system, a Spanish Renaissance-themed

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

, and a new north end zone concourse connecting the two stadium halves. Along with the other additions, 157 feet of ribbon board were added on the north end zone; more than 160 linear feet in the northeast and northwest corners of the stadium, and 94 lineal feet in the south end zone over the athletic offices. The construction was completed in November 2013. As part of these renovations, the Double T scoreboard was also updated with new white

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...

panels and many seats in the stadium were repainted red. Additionally, AT&T completed an upgrade to its

distributed antenna system A distributed antenna system, or DAS, is a network of spatially separated antenna nodes connected to a common source via a transport medium that provides wireless service within a geographic area or structure. DAS antenna elevations are general ...

in the stadium, increasing data capacity and call reliability. Prior to the 2016 season, the north end zone was further renovated. What was the ticket office was converted into a club area and premium loge seating was added outside. A remnant of the grass berm that originally encircled the north bowl was converted from grass to artificial turf as well.

South end zone

On August 29, 2014, a $185 million fundraising campaign was announced for multiple athletic projects. It is the first solely athletic focused campaign started by the university. The headlining project of the campaign is a renovation of the south end zone athletic offices into a premium seating area with luxury suites. Replacing of stadium seatbacks and FieldTurf is also included in the project's budget. In 2021, Cody Campbell, a former player, donated $25 million towards the south end zone project. In honor of his donation, the stadium was renamed to Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field. Construction is expected to begin in 2023.

Features

Scoreboard

The unique

scoreboard modeled in the fashion of Texas Tech's logo is emplaced on the roof of the athletic department offices in the south end zone and was installed prior to the beginning of the 1978 season. The scoreboard has remained in place through multiple stadium renovations due to its iconic and symbolic value, and received upgraded white LED panel installations in 2013. The scoreboard was removed on December 1st, 2022 as part of the Southeast End Zone Expansion.

Playing surface

The playing field runs in the traditional north-south configuration and sits 30 feet below grade at an elevation of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. When the stadium opened in 1947, the playing field featured a grass playing surface until it was replaced with

AstroTurf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has m ...

in 1970. In 2006, FieldTurf replaced the AstroTurf playing field.

Seating

After numerous renovations and expansions, Jones AT&T Stadium currently seats 60,454. The capacity makes the stadium the 44th largest college football stadium in the United States. Officially, Jones AT&T Stadium has the third-highest seating capacity of any college-specific venue in Texas behind

Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium Darrell is a given name derived from an English surname, which was derived from Norman-French , originally denoting one who came from Airelle in France. There are no longer any towns in France called Airelle, but is the French word for huckleber ...

in Austin and

Kyle Field Kyle Field is the American football stadium located on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, United States. It has been the home to the Texas A&M Aggies football team in rudimentary form since 1904, and as a permanent con ...

in College Station, but when referred to by actual seating capacity the stadium drops to fifth behind

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

Alamodome The Alamodome is a 64,000-seat domed indoor multi-purpose stadium in San Antonio, Texas. It is located on the southeastern fringe of downtown San Antonio. The facility opened on May 15, 1993, having been constructed at a cost of $186 milli ...

and

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

's Rice Stadium. There are 13,750 seats designated for students between 14 sections. An additional section was allotted to students following record demand during the 2013 season.

Video board

Due for completion prior to the commencement of the 2013 season, the $11 million jumbotron mounted in the north end zone of the stadium is one of the largest in the country. The high-definition jumbotron measures 100 feet wide by 38 feet tall with of screen space, placing it at a ranking of 16th nationally by square footage in purely NCAA football stadiums, and 8th among HD screens. Additionally, the board ranks 4th in the

in square footage behind

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

McLane Stadium McLane Stadium is an American football stadium in Waco, Texas owned and operated by Baylor University. Originally named "Baylor Stadium", the facility's name was changed to "McLane Stadium" in December 2013 to honor Baylor alumnus and business ma ...

, the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium (formerly War Memorial Stadium, Memorial Stadium, and Texas Memorial Stadium), located in Austin, Texas, on the campus of the University of Texas, has been home to the Longhorns football team since 1924. The sta ...

, and the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, also known as Owen Field or The Palace on the Prairie, is the football stadium on the campus of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma. It serves as the home of the Oklahoma Sooners football team. ...

. The entire support structure measures 190 feet wide and 57 feet tall, making it the largest overall in the Big 12. The entire project includes 275 tons of steel above ground and 54 tons below ground, embedded in about of concrete. Six piers on each side of the structure plunge to a depth of near . The video board, with a

pixel pitch Dot pitch (sometimes called line pitch, stripe pitch, or phosphor pitch) is a specification for a computer display, computer printer, image scanner, or other pixel-based devices that describe the distance, for example, between dots ( sub-pixels ...

of 16mm and 4

megapixels In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the smal ...

, also includes sound banks 38 feet tall and 16 feet wide. The video board supports were covered with a decorative

facade and feature wells for shooting

pyrotechnics Pyrotechnics is the science and craft of creating such things as fireworks, safety matches, oxygen candles, explosive bolts and other fasteners, parts of automotive airbags, as well as gas-pressure blasting in mining, quarrying, and demolition. ...

Usage

Coaches All-America Game

The

Coaches All-America Game The Coaches All-America Game was a postseason college football all-star game that served as the concluding game of the college football season, held from 1961 to 1976. The all-star game was sponsored by the American Football Coaches Association (A ...

, a postseason college football all-star game that served as the concluding game of the college football season, was hosted at Jones AT&T Stadium from 1970–1975. The all-star game was sponsored by the

American Football Coaches Association The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is an association of over 11,000 American football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "mainta ...

(AFCA) and profits from ticket sales and television rights went to fund AFCA scholarships. Prior to the Coaches All-America Game relocating to Lubbock, from 1961 to 1965,

War Memorial Stadium War Memorial Stadium may refer to: * Ada War Memorial Stadium, in Ada, Ohio, also known as ''War Memorial Stadium'' * War Memorial Stadium (Arkansas), Little Rock, Arkansas * War Memorial Stadium (Austin, Texas) (former official name 1924–1947), ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, served as host and prior to relocating to Lubbock due to attendance issues,

Atlanta Stadium Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

hosted the game from 1966 to 1969. Lubbock won the bid to host the game over newer stadiums in larger cities, Memorial Stadium in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

and

San Diego Stadium San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium on the West Coast of the United States, west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. The stadium opened in 1967 as San Diego Stadium and was known as Jack Murphy Stadium from 1981 to 199 ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

, after the AFCA was convinced that Lubbock's advantages as a college town without competing entertainment would fill the stands with existing college football fans from

West Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the arid and semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Del Rio. No consensus exists on the boundary betwee ...

. The first game held at Jones Stadium took place only 47 days after downtown Lubbock was hit by a tornado in 1970. The stadium's newly installed AstroTurf was unharmed, but some of the light towers on the east side—which had recently been fitted with extra lights for the color telecast of the All-America Game—were bent or snapped off. Even with the surrounding circumstances, the inaugural Jones Stadium game drew 42,150 in attendance, a record attendance that broke set in any prior Coaches All-America Game in Buffalo or Atlanta. The game finally found success by an attendance standard, drawing 285,786 attendees over 7 years. By the time of the final Coaches All-America Game in 1976, more players declined to participate in the all-star game as rookies and NFL owners had little to gain, and much to lose due to injury risks. The AFCA reluctantly dropped the Coaches All-America Game, but continued to bestow All-America honors.

Texas Tech Red Raiders

The Texas Tech Red Raiders played their first game in Jones AT&T Stadium on November 29, 1947—a 14–6 win against the Hardin–Simmons Cowboys. The Red Raiders have a posted a 336-162-13 () record at Jones AT&T Stadium record through the 2013 victory over Iowa State. Dave Curtis, a writer for ''

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'' listed the stadium as having the number one ranking amongst college stadiums in home field advantage. The attendance record of 61,836 was set during the 2013 season against the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The 2012 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team set a season average attendance record of 57,108, breaking the record set previously in 2010. A 34-27 win over the Oklahoma Sooners on November 17, 2007, was the start of a 12-game winning streak, the longest Red Raider winning streak at Jones AT&T Stadium that lasted through October 24, 2009, with a 52-30 loss to

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. Texas Tech has gone undefeated at Jones AT&T Stadium in 14 seasons, with the most recent coming in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Attendance and student section

A student attendance record of 16,092 was set on September 12, 2013 against Texas Christian University, breaking the record 14,915 set just one week earlier. The increased demand for student seating in 2013 led to Texas Tech allocating additional sections for the purpose, which contributed to the setting of a total yearly student attendance record in addition to the individual game records. Since 2009, Texas Tech has seen a 25 percent increase in the student attendance average, bucking a national trend of declining attendance. The student section has been named as the best such section in the Big 12 Conference by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

and ''

The Norman Transcript ''The Norman Transcript'' is a daily newspaper published in Norman, Oklahoma, United States, covering Cleveland and McClain counties, in the southern suburbs of Oklahoma City. It is owned by Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. The newspaper is the ...

''. As of April 2014, there were 34,100 season tickets sold for the 2014 season, surpassing the previous season ticket record of 32,227 that were purchased prior to the start of the 2010 season. In July 2014, the athletic department announced that all season tickets had sold out for the first time in school history with a record 38,502 tickets sold. The 10 highest overall attendance records for Texas Tech football games at Jones AT&T Stadium:

Gallery

File:Clifford_B._and_Audrey_Jones_Stadium_circa_1948.png, Clifford B. and Audrey Jones Stadium circa 1948

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones ATandT Stadium College football venues Texas Tech Red Raiders football venues Sports venues in Lubbock, Texas American football venues in Texas 1947 establishments in Texas Sports venues completed in 1947 AT&T