Ranking the 10 biggest college football stadiums by seating capacity
By Dante Pryor
7. Bryant-Denny Stadium – Home of the Alabama Crimson Tide -101, 821
Bryant-Denny Stadium, home to the Alabama Crimson Tide is one of the iconic stadiums in college football history. Its capacity of over 100,000 makes it one of the largest stadiums in the SEC and the sixth-largest football stadium in the country.
Bryant-Denny was completed in 1929 and initially named after former Alabama president George H. Denny who served as the school’s president for 20 years. In 1975 then head football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant’s name was added to the stadium making him one of the few to coach in a venue with his name.
There is no shortage of great players in Alabama football history. Bart Starr, Joe Namath, Sylvester Croom, Derrick Thomas, Chris Samuels, Shaun Alexander, Derrick Henry, and Mark Ingram are a few of the great players who work the Crimson and Cream.
The Crimson Tide’s .806 winning percentage is proof of their home-field advantage. What’s most impressive is that Bear Bryant lost two home games his entire career at Alabama. Despite Alabama’s success at Bryant-Denny, Alabama played many of their home games at Legion Field in Birmingham from 1920 until the early 1990s.
One of the most important home games they played every year at Legion was the Iron Bowl ONe of the reasons the ‘Tide expanded Bryant Denny was Legion Field had 20,000 more seats. Here are more notable games played in Bryant-Denny:
- Oct. 1, 1994, versus Georgia: Jay Barker and Eric Zeier duel in a 29-28 Alabama win.
- Nov. 6, 1999, versus LSU: Marvin Constant strips Josh Booty at the goal line as time expires.
- Nov. 29, 2008, Nick Saban’s second season, the Crimson Tide defeat the Auburn Tigers in the Iron Bowl 36-0 breaking a six-game losing streak. It was also the first Iron Bowl win in Bryant Denny for the Tide.