History
the City of Miami,
with a then population of 150,000, entered into
a contract on July 30, 1936 for the building of
a football stadium. the stadium was completed in
mid-1937 at a total cost of $340,000. the stadium
initially was named after one of Miami's oldest
pioneers, Roddy Burdine, before becoming Orange
Bowl Stadium in 1959.
Dedication
December
10, 1937, during the Miami-Georgia football game.
the Hurricanes lost, 26-0. the seating capacity
was 22,000.
Surface
Prescription Athletic
Turf (Natural Grass) Transition from artificial
was made in 1977.
Lighting
Regular metal
halide. |
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Press Box
the fifth floor level can accommodate 92 writers
plus the scoreboard, public address and statistics
crews. Live television and radio broadcast crews
are assigned to the third floor. Television and
photo news crews have access to the roof of the
press box, which is also used for overflow media
seating. the fourth and sixth floors are VIP seating
and hospitality areas. Use the South Central Plaza,
for press will call and entrance to the press box.
Expansion
the original stadium, with
a seating capacity of 23,330, soon outgrew itself
and in 1944 stands were added to the endzones bring
capacity to 35,030. In 1947 a second expansion added
an additional 24,548 seats. Following expansions
in 1950 (4,974 seats), '53 (2,577) and '55 (9,157)
double-decking and construction of the wings were
completed. the west end zone was filled in and both
the upper and lower deck seats were added, raising
capacity to 80,010. the east end zone seats were
removed in 1977, reducing the capacity to 75,500.
Expansion of the VIP seating and the addition of
contour seats in the early 1990s reduced the capacity
to 74,712. In 1994, completion of construction designed
to improve handicap seating further reduced capacity.
Renovations in 1996 to accommodate Olympic soccer
reduced capacity to 72,319.
Home to Big
Games
the Orange Bowl has hosted five Super Bowls,
the most recent on January 21, 1979, when the Pittsburgh
Steelers defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 35-31, in
Super Bowl XIII. Since 1970, when the collegiate
national champion was first selected after the completion
of the bowl games, the Orange Bowl Classic has hosted
11 games that decided the national title. Until
the 1996 season when the OBC moved to Pro Player
Stadium, Orange Bowl Stadium hosted eight of the
last 13 national championship games, including University
of Miami titles in 1983, 1987, and 1991.
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