A stadium 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 or sit and view the even. This article details the biggest stadiums in the United States, ordered by their audience capacity. The capacity figures are for each stadium’s permanent total capacity, including seating and any official standing areas.
The capacity does include movable seating – used by multi-purpose stadiums to regularly convert the stadium for different sports, and retractable seating for safe standing, but excludes any temporary seating or standing, such as for concerts. Stadiums are sorted in the list based on the largest of these capacities. Note that this list does not include race tracks, closed or inactive stadiums, or figures attained from temporary spectator capacity.
Contents
- 1. Michigan Stadium
- 2. Beaver Stadium
- 3. Kyle Field
- 4. Neyland Stadium
- 5. Tiger Stadium
- 6. Ohio Stadium
- 7. Bryant-Denny Stadium
- 8. Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium
- 9. Sanford Stadium
- 10. Cotton Bowl
- 11. Rose Bowl
- 12. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
- 13. Jordan-Hare Stadium
- 14. Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
- 15. Memorial Stadium
- 16. MetLife Stadium
- 17. FedExField
- 18. Frank Howard Field at Clemson Memorial Stadium
- 19. Lambeau Field
- 20. Camp Randall Stadium
1. Michigan Stadium
Sitting capacity: 107,601
Michigan Stadium, nicknamed “The Big House”, is the football stadium for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the largest stadium in the United States, the second largest stadium in the world and the 34th largest sports venue. Its official capacity is 107,601, but it has hosted crowds in excess of 115,000.
2. Beaver Stadium
Sitting capacity: 106,572
Beaver Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania, United States, on the campus of Pennsylvania State University. It has been home to the Penn State Nittany Lions of the Big Ten Conference since 1960. Beaver Stadium has an official seating capacity of 106,572, making it currently the second largest stadium in the Western Hemisphere and the third largest in the world.
3. Kyle Field
Sitting capacity: 102,733
Kyle Field is the 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 concrete stadium since 1927. It is known as the “Home of the 12th Man.” The seating capacity of 102,733 in 2015 makes the stadium the largest in the Southeastern Conference and the fourth-largest stadium in the NCAA, the third-largest stadium in the United States, and the fifth-largest non-racing stadium in the world. Within the state of Texas, Kyle Field has the largest regular-seating capacity of any football stadium.
4. Neyland Stadium
Sitting capacity: 102,455
Neyland Stadium is a sports stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. It serves primarily as the home of the Tennessee Volunteers football team, but is also used to host large conventions and has been a site for several National Football League (NFL) exhibition games. The stadium’s official capacity is 102,455. Neyland Stadium is the fourth largest stadium in the United States, the fifth largest stadium in the world, and the second largest stadium in the Southeastern Conference.
5. Tiger Stadium
Sitting capacity: 102,321
Tiger Stadium, popularly known as Death Valley, is an outdoor stadium located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on the campus of Louisiana State University. It is the home stadium of the LSU Tigers football team. Tiger Stadium has a capacity of 102,321, making it the third largest stadium in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), fifth largest stadium in the NCAA and the sixth largest stadium in the world.
6. Ohio Stadium
Sitting capacity: 102,082
Ohio Stadium, also known as the Horseshoe, the Shoe, and the House That Harley Built, is an American football stadium in Columbus, Ohio, on the campus of The Ohio State University. Its primary purpose is the home venue of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team; it also serves as the site for the university’s Spring Commencement ceremonies each May.
7. Bryant-Denny Stadium
Sitting capacity: 101,821
Bryant–Denny Stadium is an outdoor stadium in the southeastern United States, on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. It is the home field of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). With a seating capacity of 101,821, it is the fourth-largest stadium in the Southeastern Conference, the seventh largest stadium in the United States and the eighth largest stadium in the world.
8. Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium
Sitting capacity: 100,119
Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium (formerly War Memorial Stadium, Memorial Stadium, and Texas Memorial Stadium), located in Austin, Texas, on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, has been home to the Longhorns football team since 1924. The current official stadium seating capacity of 100,119 makes the stadium the largest in the Big 12 Conference, the eighth largest stadium in the United States, and the ninth largest stadium in the world.
9. Sanford Stadium
Sitting capacity: 92,746
Sanford Stadium is the on-campus playing venue for football at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, United States. The 95,723-seat stadium is the tenth-largest stadium in the NCAA. Games played there are said to be played “Between the Hedges” due to the field being surrounded by privet hedges, which have been a part of the design of the stadium since it opened in 1929. The stadium is the 9th largest stadium in the United States and the 12th-largest stadium in the world.
10. Cotton Bowl
Sitting capacity: 92,100
Cotton Bowl Stadium is an outdoor stadium in Dallas, Texas, United States, opening in 1930 at the site of the State Fair of Texas. Concerts or other events using a stage allow the playing field to be used for additional spectators. The elevation of the playing field is approximately 450 feet (140 m) above sea level.
11. Rose Bowl
Sitting capacity: 90,888
The Rose Bowl, also known as Spieker Field at the Rose Bowl, is an American outdoor athletic stadium, located in Pasadena, California, a northeast suburb of Los Angeles. At a modern capacity of an all-seated configuration at 90,888 (making it one of the rare stadiums in college football to have such a seating arrangement; many such stadiums have bench-style seating) the Rose Bowl is the 15th-largest stadium in the world, the 11th-largest stadium in the United States, and the 10th largest NCAA stadium.
12. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Sitting capacity: 88,548
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (in full Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium), popularly known as “The Swamp”, is the football stadium for the University of Florida’s football team which is located on its Gainesville, Florida campus. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is the largest football stadium in Florida, the 12th largest stadium in American college football, and the 17th largest stadium in the world, as measured by its official seating capacity of 88,548 – though, it has often held over 90,000 for Florida’s home football games.
13. Jordan-Hare Stadium
Sitting capacity: 87,451
Jordan-Hare Stadium is the playing venue for the Auburn University Tigers football team located on campus in Auburn, Alabama. The venue is now known as Pat Dye Field at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The stadium reached its current seating capacity of 87,451 with the 2004 expansion and is the 11th largest stadium in the NCAA.
14. Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
Sitting capacity: 86,126
Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, also known as Owen Field or The Palace on the Prairie, is the on-campus football facility on the campus of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, United States, that serves as the home of the Oklahoma Sooners football team. The official seating capacity of the stadium, following renovations before the start of the 2019 season, is 80,126, making it the 23rd largest stadium in the world, the 14th stadium in the United States and the second largest in the Big 12 Conference.
15. Memorial Stadium
Sitting capacity: 86,047
Memorial Stadium, nicknamed The Sea of Red, is an American football stadium located on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Lincoln, Nebraska. The stadium primarily serves as the home venue for the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team, as well as a variety of other university and state activities. A series of expansions has brought the stadium’s current capacity to 86,047, but attendance numbers regularly exceed 90,000.
16. MetLife Stadium
Sitting capacity: 82,500
MetLife Stadium is an American sports stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, 8 miles (13 km) outside of New York City. It is part of the Meadowlands Sports Complex and serves as the home stadium for two National Football League (NFL) franchises: the New York Giants and the New York Jets. At a construction cost of approximately $1.6 billion, it was the most expensive stadium ever built at the time that it opened.
17. FedExField
Sitting capacity: 82,000
FedExField, originally Jack Kent Cooke Stadium, is an American football stadium located near the Capital Beltway in Prince George’s County, Maryland, U.S., five miles (8.0 km) east of Washington, D.C., near the site of the old Capital Centre arena. The stadium is the home of the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). From 2004 until 2010, it had the largest seating capacity in the NFL at over 91,000. Currently, the capacity is 82,000. FedEx Field is in the Summerfield census-designated place and has a Landover postal address.
18. Frank Howard Field at Clemson Memorial Stadium
Sitting capacity: 81,500
Frank Howard Field at Clemson Memorial Stadium, popularly known as “Death Valley”, is home to the Clemson Tigers, an NCAA Division I FBS football team located in Clemson, South Carolina. The nickname “Death Valley” for Memorial Stadium, derives both from Death Valley National Park in California as well as the location of the Clemson University cemetery on a hill that once overlooked the field before the upper decks were constructed.
19. Lambeau Field
Sitting capacity: 81,441
Lambeau Field is an outdoor athletic stadium in the north central United States, located in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The home field of the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL), it opened in 1957 as City Stadium, replacing the original City Stadium at East High School as the Packers’ home field. With a capacity of 81,441, Lambeau Field is the fifth-largest stadium in the NFL with standing room, but is fourth in normal capacity. Lambeau Field is the oldest continually operating NFL stadium.
20. Camp Randall Stadium
Sitting capacity: 80,321
Camp Randall Stadium is an outdoor stadium in Madison, Wisconsin, located on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. It has been the home of Wisconsin Badgers football since 1895, with a fully functioning stadium since 1917. The oldest and fifth largest stadium in the Big Ten Conference, Camp Randall is the 41st largest stadium in the world, with a seating capacity of 80,321.
