KINNICK STADIUM Kinnick Stadium, home for the Iowa football team, is in its 83rd season of hosting Hawkeye football games. One of the 25 largest college-owned stadiums in the nation and one of college football’s finest facilities, Kinnick Stadium is routinely filled on Saturdays each fall. A two-year, $90 million restoration and renovation project for the stadium was completed prior to the start of the 2006 season. The project, which was the largest such undertaking ever for Iowa athletics, includes an entirely new south end zone and a new press and hospitality facility. The end zone project, which included new locker rooms, training room and media facilities for the Hawkeye football team on game days, was completed prior to the 2005 season. The Paul J. Brechler Press Box, a completely new four-level press and hospitality facility, opened for the 2006 season. The facility extends the full length of the west side of the stadium. It includes 47 private viewing suites and over 1,000 club seats. The renovation also provides a new entry plaza to the south entrance, wider seats throughout most of the stadium, new and upgraded restroom facilities and concession areas, new scoreboards and a modernized sound system. It also raised the official capacity of Kinnick Stadium to 70,585. Iowa draws sellout crowds for a majority of all home games, including 56 of the last 58 games over the last 10 seasons. Iowa had a sellout streak of 36 snapped in its 2008 home finale vs. Purdue (Nov. 15, 2008). The Hawkeyes annually rank among the top 25 schools in the nation in home attendance. Iowa ranked 21st in home attendance in 2011 with its average of 70,585. Big Ten Conference football games in 2011 drew over six million fans for the first time ever. The Big Ten annually ranks first or second nationally in home attendance. Conference games a year ago averaged over 71,000 fans per contest. Construction on the original 53,000-seat stadium was completed Oct. 5, 1929 at a cost of $497,151.42. Original construction took six months, but it has undergone several facelifts since. Seats were added to the south end zone in 1956, raising the capacity to 60,000. The north end zone was enclosed and capacity increased to 66,000 prior to the 1983 season. With three more expansion projects completed since, Kinnick now seats 70,585. Kinnick Stadium has 20 miles of bleacher seats and is 79 rows high on each side.
Beside the expansions, an artificial surface was installed in 1972. That carpet was replaced in 1981. Prior to the 1989 season a natural grass playing field, Prescription Athletic Turf, was installed. The playing surface was replaced with new sod prior to the 1997 season and during the 2005 season. The playing surface was replaced prior to the 2009 season, this time with state-of-theart Field Turf. Permanent practice lights were installed prior to the 2012 season. The original five-floor press box was constructed in 1958 at a cost of $490,628.62, and was located between the 25-yard lines on the west side of the stadium. Between 1995 and 1999, the Kinnick Stadium press box underwent a $3 million improvement and renovation project, which included the addition of 18 private viewing suites and the remodeling of all five levels. The original press box was demolished in December, 2005. Spectators attending home games of the Iowa Hawkeyes enjoy all the benefits of watching a game on television, thanks to the installation of all new video boards and scoreboards in 2005. The large scale video display units offer spectators live game action, instant replays and other features, such as highlights from other college football games being played across the nation. A complete new sound system was also installed. Kinnick Stadium has a rich history, beginning with a 46-0 Hawkeye win over Monmouth in the facility’s first game. The Hawkeyes tied Illinois 7-7 in the dedication game Oct. 19, 1929. In 1972, the name was changed from Iowa Stadium to Kinnick Stadium in honor of Iowa’s 1939 Heisman Trophy winner, Nile Kinnick. His No. 24 jersey was retired by the school because of his success as a scholarathlete at the University. Iowa’s all-time record in Kinnick Stadium is 259-166-15 following a 6-1 record in 2011. Iowa’s longest home winning streak of 22 games spanned the 2002 to 2005 seasons. The Hawkeyes have had 11 undefeated home seasons, including both 2003 and 2004. Iowa posted a 5-2 home record in 2010, 4-2 mark in 2007, 4-3 mark in 2006, 5-1 mark in 2005 and 6-1 records in 2002, 2008 and 2009. The school’s all-time home total attendance record was set in 2006 (494,095 fans) and matched in both 2010 and 2011. The average per game record (70,585) was established in 2005 and matched in 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2011. Iowa’s record season attendance mark for all games is 905,840 set in 1990, a 75,487 per game average.
Kinnick Stadium Attendance, Year-by-Year Home __ Home __Season _Season Year __ Total ____Avg. __ Total ___Avg. 1929 _ n/a 1930 _ n/a 1931 _ n/a 1932 _ n/a 1933 _ n/a 1934 _ 84,000___28,000 _ 195,500 _24,438 1935 _ 116,000__23,200 _ 193,000 _24,125 1936 _ 64,000___16,000 _ 186,200 _23,275 1937 _ n/a 1938 _ 64,000___16,000 _ 152,000 _19,000 1939 _ 129,500__32,375 _ 234,500 _29,313 1940 _ 106,700__26,675 _ 262,730 _32,837 1941 _ 88,200___29,400 _ 199,539 _24,942 1942 _ 110,400__15,771 _ 179,043 _17,904 1943 _ 41,200___10,300 _ 106,849 _12,831 1944 _ 42,200___10,550 _ 111,056 _13,882 1945 _ 64,100___16,025 _ 212,502 _23,611 1946 _ 197,811__39,562 _ 384,191 _42,688 1947 _ 187,844__46,961 _ 488,752 _54,306 1948 _ 212,708__42,542 _ 356,542 _39,616 1949 _ 218,021__43,604 _ 356,352 _39,594 1950 _ 222,921__44,584 _ 456,473 _50,719 1951 _ 157,883__39,471 _ 392,563 _43,618 1952 _ 181,164__45,291 _ 349,467 _38,829 1953 _ 211,109__42,222 _ 406,570 _45,174 1954 _ 245,421__49,084 _ 491,608 _54,623 1955 _ 201,072__50,268 _ 545,025 _60,558 1956 _ 306,478__51,079 _ 534,550 _53,455 1957 _ 203,709__50,927 _ 500,856 _55,651 1958 _ 329,673__54,912 _ 630,262 _63,026 1959 _ 279,400__55,880 _ 518,894 _57,655 1960 _ 264,100__52,820 _ 506,590 _56,288 1961 _ 290,250__58,050 _ 516,360 _57,373 1962 _ 281,216__56,212 _ 478,828 _53,203 1963 _ 230,200__57,550 _ 463,096 _57,887 1964 _ 266,391__53,278 _ 483,697 _53,744 1965 _ 263,700__52,740 _ 513,198 _51,319 1966 _ 278,628__46,438 _ 498,688 _49,869 1967 _ 241,993__48,399 _ 506,550 _50,655 1968 _ 294,126__49,021 _ 473,811 _47,381 1969 _ 301,287__50,218 _ 504,083 _50,408 1970 _ 248,643__49,728 _ 490,438 _49,043 1971 _ 233,150__46,630 _ 569,876 _51,807 1972 _ 220,833__44,166 _ 537,504 _48,864 1973 _ 217,846__43,569 _ 616,884 _56,080 1974 _ 291,600__48,600 _ 571,185 _51,926 1975 _ 320,690__53,448 _ 531,319 _48,302 1976 _ 267,327__53,465 _ 614,382 _55,853 1977 _ 377,410__53,916 _ 651,869 _59,261 1978 _ 319,289__53,214 _ 595,281 _54,116 1979 _ 358,245__59,708 _ 674,581 _61,326 1980 _ 359,750__59,958 _ 668,008 _60,728 1981 _ 360,381__60,064 _ 801,550 _66,796 1982 _ 297,766__59,553 _ 692,455 _57,705 1983 _ 330,610__66,122 _ 879,338 _73,278 1984 _ 396,784__66,131 _ 764,793 _58,830 1985 _ 396,773__66,129 _ 827,795 _68,983 1986 _ *472,041 _67,434 _ 852,604 _71,050 1987 _ 338,500__67,700 _ 769,187 _59,168
Iowa Hawkeye Football
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