The Yale Bowl Stadium is a college football stadium in the northeast United States, located in New Haven, Connecticut, on the border of

West Haven West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

, about 1½ miles (2½ km) west of the main campus of Yale University. The home of the American football team of the

Yale Bulldogs The Yale Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. The school sponsors 35 varsity sports. The school has won two NCAA national championships in women's fencing, four in ...

of the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

, it opened in 1914 with 70,896

seats A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair, a chair e ...

; renovations have reduced its current capacity to 61,446, still making it the second largest FCS stadium, behind Tennessee State's Nissan Stadium. The Yale Bowl Stadium inspired the design and naming of the Rose Bowl, from which is derived the name of college football's post-season games (

bowl games In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdiv ...

) and the NFL's Super Bowl. In

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

and

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

, the stadium hosted the New York Giants of the National Football League, as Yankee Stadium was renovated into a baseball-only venue and

Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands or The Swamp) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and it primarily hosted spo ...

was still in the planning and construction stages; the team was able to move to

Shea Stadium Shea Stadium (), formally known as William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens, New York City.1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

History

Ground was broken on the stadium in August 1913. Fill excavated from the field area was used to build up a berm around the perimeter to create an elliptical bowl. The facade was designed to partially echo the campus's

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

design, and, as with some central campus buildings, acid was applied to imitate the effects of aging. Yale Bowl in 1924 NARA

It was the first bowl-shaped stadium in the country, and inspired the design of such stadiums as the Rose Bowl, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and Michigan Stadium. It was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1987 for its role in football history. and The Yale Bowl's designer, Charles A. Ferry, for unknown reasons chose not to include locker rooms Players dress in the Smilow Field Center and walk to the field. When the NFL's Giants played at the stadium (1973, 1974), the pro players disliked the arrangement, but Yale players reportedly enjoy the walk. Fans cheer for the team as it marches to the stadium while the

Yale Band The Yale Precision Marching Band (affectionately known as the YPMB, or more simply The Band, for short) is the official marching band of Yale University. It is a scatter band (what some peers might call a "scramble band"), as distinct from univer ...

plays, a tradition known as the "Bulldog Walk." The Bowl's first game, on November 21,

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

, drew more than 68,000 spectators, who watched the Bulldogs lose 36–0 to rival

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher l ...

. In 1958, a new scoreboard was installed; its distinctive clock was arranged vertically instead of horizontally. During the 1970s, the Bowl hosted several concerts. In 1971, Yes performed on July 24 and the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, jazz, bluegrass, blues, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, world music, a ...

on July 31, a recording of which was released as Road Trips Volume 1 Number 3. But neighborhood opposition to the concerts brought them to an end after a June 14, 1980, show featuring the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, jus ...

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to ...

, and

The Little River Band Little River Band (LRB) are a rock band originally formed in Melbourne, Australia, in March 1975. The band achieved commercial success in both Australia and the United States. They have sold more than 30 million records; six studio albums re ...

. A picture from the show was published with the vinyl edition of the

double live album, issued later that year, though no recordings from the event are included on the discs. A Paul McCartney concert was scheduled for June 1990, but cancelled amid neighbors' opposition; the show was moved to Chicago. The stadium has hosted many soccer matches over the years; it served as home field for the

Connecticut Bicentennials The Connecticut Bicentennials were an American soccer team that competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1975 to 1977. Originally founded as the Hartford Bicentennials, the team relocated to New Haven, Connecticut after the 19 ...

of the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league ba ...

during the 1976 and 1977 seasons. Yale Bowl was mulled as a possible playing site when the United States hosted the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

, but lost out to

Foxboro Stadium Foxboro Stadium, originally Schaefer Stadium and later Sullivan Stadium, was an outdoor stadium in the New England region of the United States, located in Foxborough, Massachusetts. It opened in 1971 and served as the home of the New England ...

in Massachusetts and

in New Jersey. In 1991, the Bowl's vicinity saw the addition of the

Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center The Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center is an 8-court indoor intercollegiate tennis facility and outdoor stadium located on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center is part of the Yale University tennis ...

, home to the annual ATP/ WTA event (the Pilot Pen tournament), across Yale Avenue from the stadium. On October 5, 2001, the closing ceremony of the Yale Tercentennial was held at the Yale Bowl. Guests included

Tom Wolfe Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...

'57, William F. Buckley '50, ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) an ...

''s

Big Bird Big Bird is a Muppet character designed by Jim Henson and built by Kermit Love for the long-running children's television show ''Sesame Street''. An eight-foot two-inch (249 cm) tall bright yellow anthropomorphic bird, he can roller ska ...

, Paul Simon '96 Hon, and Garry Trudeau '70. By the 21st century, many of the outside retaining walls and portal entries were deteriorating. In the spring and summer of 2006, the bowl received a partial renovation, including a new scoreboard. The work was completed just in time for the first home game of the Yale football team's season on September 16.

Sports

Football

NFL

The New York Giants of the National Football League won just one of the dozen home games they played in New Haven in the 1973 and 1974 seasons. (With the exception of the games played with replacement teams during the

1987 NFL strike The National Football League Players Association, or NFLPA, is a labor union representing National Football League (NFL) players. The NFLPA, which has headquarters in Washington, D.C., is led by president J. C. Tretter and executive director D ...

, the attendance at the final game at the Yale Bowl is the smallest at a Giants' home game since 1955.) The team also played preseason games in the stadium, including the first ever game against its future rival and stadium share partner, the New York Jets, in 1969.

Soccer

International

, - , June 10, 1994 , , 1-0 , , 23,547

NASL (1976-1977)

Gallery

File:Yale-Harvard-Game.jpg, Yale v Harvard game, 2001 File:YaleBowl1.jpg, Grandstand, 2008 File:Yale Bowl scoreboard.jpg, Yale Bowl scoreboard, 2019 File:Yale_Bowl_main_entrance.jpg, Main entrance in 2019 File:Aerial Image Yale Bowl.jpg, Aerial view, 2021

References

External links

* {{Authority control College football venues American football venues in Connecticut Yale Bulldogs football Yale University buildings National Historic Landmarks in Connecticut Defunct National Football League venues New York Giants stadiums Tourist attractions in New Haven, Connecticut Sports venues completed in 1914 Sports venues in New Haven, Connecticut Event venues on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut North American Soccer League (1968–1984) stadiums National Register of Historic Places in New Haven, Connecticut Sports venues on the National Register of Historic Places 1914 establishments in Connecticut Soccer venues in Connecticut