Tiger Stadium transforms into a country music cathedral each May with the two-day Bayou Country Superfest, an annual festival that is one of the top tourist destinations in Baton Rouge and the South. BCS has seen the likes of Kenny Chesney, Zac Brown Band, Tim McGraw and most recently, Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts, Jason Aldean and Keith Urban in May 2012. Those are the highlights, some of which have shaped the character of this great stadium. But week in and week out each fall, a new chapter unfolds in the history of Death Valley. Aside from football, Tiger Stadium has served as a concert venue since 2010. Each spring for the past three years, Death Valley has played host to “Bayou Country Superfest”, a two-day country music festival that has featured the likes of Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Zac Brown Band, Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood and Jason Aldean. History The home of one of football’s proudest traditions, Tiger Stadium once served as a dormitory for approximately 1,500 students, and while Broussard Hall, then LSU’s athletics dormitory, was being renovated during the fall of 1986, the LSU football players lived in Tiger Stadium. The original phase of construction was completed in 1924. This first phase included the east and west stands, which seated about 12,000. Seven years later (1931), the sides were extended upward to accommodate an additional 10,000 fans, raising the capacity to 22,000. In 1936, the stadium seating capacity was increased to 46,000, with the addition of 24,000 seats in the north end, making Tiger Stadium into a horseshoe configuration. The next phase of construction took place in 1953 when the stadium’s south end was closed to turn the horseshoe into a bowl, increasing the seating capacity to 67,720. The original upper deck atop the west stands was completed in 1978, and it added 8,000 seats to the stadium’s capacity. Additional seating
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in two club level sections, which flanked the existing press box, brought the total addition to approximately 10,000 seats and raised the stadium’s capacity to approximately 78,000. Refurbishing began on the stadium in the summer of 1985, when the east and west stands were waterproofed, and 25,000 chair back seats were added to replace the older “bench” type seats. Another phase of improvements was completed in 1987 when the north and south stands were waterproofed and newer bleachers were again installed to replace the older ones. The playing field was moved 11 feet south in 1986 to provide more room between the back line of the North End Zone and the curvature of the stadium fence, which surrounds the field. It also put the playing area in the exact center of the arena’s grassy surface. Prior to the 1987 season, more seats were installed at the upper portion of the west lower stands in Tiger Stadium. Also, the stadium’s seating arrangement was renumbered to make all seats a uniform size. The addition of bleacher seating in 1988 brought the capacity to 80,150, but the elimination of some bleacher seating after the 1994 season dropped the capacity to 80,000. Now the eighth-largest on-campus stadium in college football, Tiger Stadium continues to provide fans with the ultimate college football experience. Eleven years ago, 11,600 seats were added with the installation of the east upper deck, bringing the capacity to nearly 92,000. In addition to the new east upper deck, 70 skyboxes, called “Tiger Dens,” were built, giving Tiger fans luxury accommodations. The addition of the 11,600 seats in 2000 marked the first expansion to Tiger Stadium since 1978, when the original west upper
2012 FOOTBALL MEDIA GUIDE
deck was completed. The distinctive environment of Tiger Stadium became even more pronounced in 2005 as the ambitious West Upper Deck project was virtually completed. Construction on the project -- which began immediately after LSU’s home finale against Ole Miss in November of 2004 - carried a $60 million price tag and rebuilt over 3,200 special amenity seats as a well as a state-of-the-art press box to Tiger Stadium. The west side renovation, which included the removal and rebuilding of the upper deck to mirror the east side upper deck, was finished during the 2006 season. In 2009, major technological advances were made when Tiger Stadium added an 80-foot wide high-definition video board to the north endzone of the facility. Called one of the largest video boards in all of college athletics, the HD board measures 27-feet high and 80-feet wide. In August 2010, LSU Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Joe Alleva and the Tiger Athletic Foundation launched a campaign to preserve and restore the look of Tiger Stadium. The 428 windows on the north side of the stadium were completely refurbushed. In April 2012, a new exciting era of Tiger Stadium was unveiled by Alleva. Construction plans call for approximately 60 suites and 3,000 club seats above the existing south end zone seats, as well as approximately 1,500 general public seats above the new suite and club seating to be completed by the 2014 season. The project, privately funded by Tiger Athletic Foundation, will bring the capacity of Tiger Stadium to near or above 100,000.