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California Memorial Stadium

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California Memorial Stadium is an outdoor football stadium on the campus of the University of California in Berkeley. Commonly known as Memorial Stadium, it is the home field for the University of California Golden Bears of the Pacific Ten Conference. The venue opened in 1923 and currently seats 75,662.

Memorial Stadium was funded from public contributions, as a memorial to Californians who lost their lives in World War I (1917-18). The chair of the architectural committee was John Galen Howard, the university's chief architect, and his influence is evident in the stadium's neoclassical motif. In addition to its unique architecture, the stadium's position at the foot of the Berkeley hills provides top row spectators with panoramic views of San Francisco Bay and west side viewers with views of the Berkeley Hills and Strawberry Canyon. This has earned it a reputation as one of the most scenic venues in college football.

Memorial Stadium does not have a running track, so the stands descend right down to the football field. (The lowest central seating views on the west side can be blocked by the standing visiting team reserve members.) The playing field runs NW-SE, at an elevation of 410 feet (125 m) above sea level.

Traditionally, during most football games and especially during the Big Game against Stanford, the hill overlooking the eastern side of Memorial Stadium attracts spectators hoping to watch a game for free, earning the nickname "Tightwad Hill."

Playing surface

Originally a natural grass field, AstroTurf was installed in Memorial Stadium in 1981 and remained for 14 seasons. Natural grass returned for the 1995 season, until the 2003 installation of Momentum Turf, a next-generation infilled artificial turf, similar to FieldTurf.

The Momentum Turf surface allows for minimal maintenance and increased utilization of the stadium, for football practices and other sports, on the space-limited UC-Berkeley campus. After returning to natural turf in 1995, varsity football practices were held at Witter Rugby Field, saving the stadium's grass field for game days only. Memorial Stadium's field is also marked for international soccer, but this allows little reserve room beyond the official lines.



Hayward Fault

The Hayward Fault passes directly under the playing field of Memorial (nearly from goal post to goal post), where right-lateral strike-slip motion is shifting the northeast half of the building to the southwest at a rate of 1 cm/yr. Expansion joints have been placed in the walls of the stadium to maintain the integrity of the building. A 1998 seismic safety study at the Berkeley campus gave the stadium a "poor" rating (meaning that the building represents an "appreciable life hazard" in an earthquake), and estimated the cost of making the structure safe at $14 million.

In February 2005, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau announced plans to renovate Memorial Stadium, improving the existing facilities, adding a sports complex and providing new facilities for various university departments and programs as part of a huge development program for the east campus area. The first phase of the renovations were slated to take place during the spring and summer of 2006 but were stopped by a court injunction due to three lawsuits against the project. A small group of tree-sitters occupied the oak grove on the west side of the stadium beginning on the "Big Game" day in December 2006. Extensive seismic modifications will be required if life safety is to be addressed (see Hayward Fault Zone for possible solutions).

NFL

The NFL's Oakland Raiders played their second game of the 1973 regular season at Memorial Stadium. The game against the defending Super Bowl champion Miami Dolphins was moved from the Raiders' regular home, the Oakland Coliseum, to draw a larger crowd. (At the time, the Oakland Coliseum could seat just over 50,000 fans during baseball season.) The Raiders ended the Dolphins' 18-game winning streak with a 12-7 victory on four field goals by 45-year-old George Blanda on September 23rd.

Besides the extra capacity at Memorial Stadium, the move was also made to preserve the playing surface for the 1973 baseball playoffs. The Oakland A's were preparing to win their second of three consecutive World Series titles, so the Raiders did not play in their own stadium until the second half of the season (6 of their final 7 games were at home). The Dolphins lost only one more game during the 1973 season (after ten straight victories) and successfully defended their Super Bowl title. They finished with a 15-2 overall record, which included a 27-10 defeat of the Raiders in the playoffs.)

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