| Stadium Overview |
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| Construction of Memorial Stadium
was funded through public contributions, as memorial to
Californians who lost their lives in World War I.
Designed after Rome's Colosseum, Memorial Stadium opened in time for the 1923 Big Game against
Stanford. Original capacity of the stadium was 72,000,
the capacity has fluctuated over the years. Current
capacity of Memorial Stadium with the Blue & Gold Zone tarps
is 72,516. |
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Memorial Stadium is one of the
most picturesque stadiums in the country. Saturday
Shrines named Memorial Stadium as one to the 40 Best
stadiums in college football, "Memorial Stadium is a college
football jewel located in an area known as Strawberry
Canyon". Memorial Stadium also was recognized a few
times in the "101 things that make a stadium special"
section:
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#11 Cheap Seats:
Best place to see a game for free.
#42 Loud and Clear:
Heard in the stands at Cal: "Go Bears".
#45 Letter Perfect:
"C" at Cal. Beacons of pride, and all tempting
to the paint brush vandals.
#99 It's in the
Cards: It's a visually stunning sight to behold:
the Cal card stunts.
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| Fans can
enjoy an incredible view of the San Francisco Bay upper rows
of the east side of the stadium. The most scenic view
of the San Francisco Bay and Memorial Stadium is the one
from Tightwad Hill. Sitting atop Tightwad Hill is the
California Victory Cannon. The canon is fired before
each home game after each Golden Bear score. In 1991
the Golden Bears defeated the Pacific 86-24, scoring 12
touchdowns. The fans had to simulate the cannon firing
for the final two Golden Bear touchdowns because they had
run out of ammunition. |
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| The playing surface of Memorial
Stadium has had a few face lifts over the years. Astro
Turf was installed in 1981 which allowed the football team
to use Memorial Stadium for practice. Practicing in
the stadium was good in that it is in close proximity to the
locker room and meeting facilities. The downsized of
the turf is that the painted lines and numbers on the field
had a similar feel to course sand paper. The Astro
Turf was removed in 1995 and replaced with a grass playing
surface. During that time the football team practiced
on Wiitter Rugby Field. The current Momentum Turf was
installed in 2003, allowing the football team to return to
Memorial Stadium for practices. |
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| Cal students have prime seats
for Golden Bear home games. The student section sits
on the 50 yards directly behind the home sideline.
Over the year students have participated in card stunts. The
first card stunt (known then as "bleacher stunt") occurred
during the 1910 Big Game. USC Trojans student may have
their male cheerleaders who carry their megaphones and wear
their bright white sweaters, Cal on the other has their Mic
Men (and women). The Mic Men traded the preppy
sweaters and megaphones for a blue and gold tie and use the
modern day convenience of a microphone to lead the Cal
Student Section. |
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| Visiting fans enjoy a view of
the game that is unparalleled for such a large facility.
Sitting in the southeast corner of the stadium, the visiting
section provides a much better view of the action than the
Los Angeles Coliseum, Rose Bowl, Sun Devil Stadium, and
Husky Stadium. The view is also on par with the much
smaller Autzen Stadium. Golden Bear fans are very
hospitable to visiting fans...as long as they are not
wearing red. Fans who arrive to the stadium wearing
any red article of clothing will kindle be asked to "take
off that red shirt". |
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| Adding to the excitement of
Memorial is the Hayward Fault which runs directly under the
stadium. A seismic study conducted in 1998 gave
Memorial Stadium a poor rating which meaning that the
stadium represents an appreciable life hazard in an
earthquake. The University of California has begun the
process of trying to retrofit the stadium and upgrade the
facilities. In their infinite wisdom the City of
Berkeley and local home owners have placed the life of a few
trees ahead of the 60,000 to 70,000 fans who attend Golden
Bear home games (that is my take on the current lawsuits). |
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| When the university prevails in
court and gets to go ahead to begin construction of the
retrofit and Student-Athlete High Performance Center, the
Golden Bears will be able to compete with other programs
that have more modern training facilities. The state
of the art strength and conditioning and sports medicine
center will serve 13 of the 27 intercollegiate sports.
It will also include a study center and meeting space. Click here if you would like to help fund the
Student-Athlete High Performance Center. |
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| Gameday experience at Memorial
Stadium has become more and more exciting as head coach Jeff
Tedford has been able to transform the Golden Bears program.
Cal has averaged over 60,000 fans per game the last several
years. A major component to the good atmosphere is the
Cal Band. Prior to the game fans hear loud blast
coming from the field and see the Cal Band pour out the
north tunnel as they "Pride of California" plays
"Big C" and "Hail to California" as they spell out the
script Cal for the
fans. Since there is a certain amount of bias on my
part I will refrain from rating the components of the
stadium as I have done with the other Pac-10 stadiums. |
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| Go Bears! |
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| Interesting Fact |
| Memorial Stadiums has seen it
share of great games and endings: |
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1982 - Cal defeats John Elway
and the Stanford Cardinal on as Joe Starkey put it: "the
most amazing, sensational, traumatic, heart rendering,
exciting thrilling finish in the history of college
football". The Play was a 5 lateral kickoff return
with 4 seconds remaining where Kevin Moen plowed over a
Stanford trombone player to defeat Stanford.
1993 - Cal rallies from a 20-0
deficit against 13th ranked Arizona to win 24-20.
1995 - Cal defeats Arizona 56-55
in 4 overtimes. Quarterback Pat Barnes throws for a
Pac-10 record 8 touchdowns in the victory.
2003 - Cal defeats the 3rd
ranked and eventual National Champion USC Trojans 34-31 in 3
overtimes.
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| In 1973 the Oakland Raiders
moved their second game of the season against the defending
Super Bowl Champion Miami Dolphins to Memorial Stadium.
The move was made to accommodate a larger crowd than the
could be held at the 50,000 seat Oakland Coliseum. |
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| Seating Chart |
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