UDMathlecticfield infront of Calihan Hall

University of Detroit Stadium, also known as U of D Stadium, Titan Stadium, or Dinan Field, was 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 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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, located on the campus of the

University of Detroit The University of Detroit Mercy is a private Roman Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan. It is sponsored by both the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was founded in 1877 and is the largest Catholic univers ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

. The stadium opened in

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

, on land that had been acquired for the university's proposed new McNichols campus (the university moved its main campus there in 1927). The primary tenant was the University of Detroit Titans football team, who played their home games there from the time it opened until the university dropped the program, following the 1964 season.

Location

The stadium stood on 6 Mile Road (later also known as McNichols Road) just west of Fairfield Street at the northeast corner of the campus. The field was aligned north-south, with grandstands on the east and west sidelines, encircled by a running track. It had 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 tha ...

of 25,000 at its peak. In addition to football, it was also used for track meets, concerts, and other university-related and public events. One rather unusual aspect of the stadium were its lighting towers, which stood between the stands and the field, which was at an approximate

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

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 standardis ...

Tenants

University of Detroit Stadium was the home field for the NFL's

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at For ...

from

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into ...

, and again in 1940. The Lions also played several early season home games there in

1938 Events January * January 1 ** The new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the authoritarian regime. ** State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France ...

and

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...

. The stadium was also home to the

Detroit Wolverines The Detroit Wolverines were a 19th-century Major League Baseball team that played in the National League from 1881 to 1888 in the city of Detroit, Michigan. In total, they won 426 games and lost 437, taking their lone pennant (and winning the p ...

for their only NFL season in

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhano ...

. U of D stadium was the site of the 1935 NFL Championship Game, won by the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; ad ...

over the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

, 26–7. The Wayne Tartars football team often played home games here from 1944 to 1953 before moving into Tartar Field in 1954. The Detroit Cougars professional soccer club played several games here in the summers of 1967 and 1968 whenever their regular home field, Tiger Stadium had a scheduling conflict. One such match in 1967 against the Houston Stars ended in an infamous player riot on June 14. The Michigan Arrows of the fledgling

Continental Football League The Continental Football League (COFL) was a professional American football minor league that operated in North America from 1965 through 1969. It was established following the collapse of the original United Football League, and hoped to becom ...

used the stadium (which then had a capacity of 20,000) for the 1968 season. Unfortunately, the Arrows drew just 4,240 fans per game en route to a 1-11 season. The Arrows moved to Midland to become the Tri-City Apollos in 1969, then folded with the rest of the league.

Demolition

The stadium was demolished in 1971 and was replaced by a parking lot. For many years thereafter, the stadium's lighting towers remained standing in order to provide lighting for the lot. The location is currently occupied by a multi-purpose synthetic turf field north of

Calihan Hall Calihan Hall is a 7,917-seat multi-purpose arena in Detroit. It is home to the University of Detroit Mercy Titans basketball team. The arena opened in 1952. The building was dedicated on May 25, 1952 as the Memorial Building. The first basketbal ...

. The stadium's natural grass field had a similar north-south alignment, but was approximately southwest.

References

{{Defunct NFL stadiums Sports venues completed in 1922 Detroit Lions stadiums Detroit Titans football Defunct National Football League venues North American Soccer League (1968–1984) stadiums Wayne State Warriors football Defunct college football venues Sports venues in Detroit Soccer venues in Michigan Defunct soccer venues in the United States 1922 establishments in Michigan 1971 disestablishments in Michigan Sports venues demolished in 1971 American football venues in Michigan Demolished sports venues in Michigan