Washington State Football: The Personal “NEW” Martin Stadium Experience (Pt. 4 Pac-12 Stadiums)
By Josh Davis
Jun 28, 2014; Palo Alto, CA, USA; Post game fireworks after the game between the San Jose Earthquakes and the Los Angeles Galaxy at Stanford Stadium. Los Angeles Galaxy won 1-0. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports
STANFORD CARDINAL (Stanford Stadium aka “The Farm”)
Stanford Stadium is a sincerely unique place in the Pac-12 Conference, with several cool features amongst a gorgeous backdrop. The stadium itself sits in the middle of a bunch of trees, making it a park-like setting. The shape of the stadium is also unique and gives a baseball park feel to the venue while still maintaining a football atmosphere. I don’t know, I think it’s one of the more beautiful setups in all of college football.
The problem is that Stanford fans aren’t really (generally) “football-educated”. To be more clear, it feels to me like Cardinal fans approach their football like they approach their studies; a little more seriously than the rest of us. It’s not a party atmosphere outside of maybe the USC and Oregon matchups each year (as soon as Cal gets good again expect that setting to pick back up as well), it’s more of a social gathering.
As far as renovations go, between the 2005 and 2006 seasons the entire venue (known then as “the Farm”) was torn down and rebuilt. For Cougar fans reading this to understand just how incredible that is, think of this; it took WSU two years each to build the press box and the new football ops building and Stanford basically tore the entire stadium and rebuilt it in one.
In 2013, Stanford upgraded their scoreboards to twin high-definition video boards. Stanford Stadium is now the only stadium in college football with twin HD video boards. Also, a 1,673-foot ribbon board that wraps the length of the upper facade was added.
Basically as far as a stadium is concerned the Cardinal have it all and they continue to pump in talented players to compete for championships, of which they’ve won two straight. It is an unprecedented the success happening at Stanford and they really recruit well under the current regime with David Shaw. It did all seem to change after the Stadium was rebuilt, showing the importance of great facilities.