Washington Grizzly Stadium

Washington-Grizzly Stadium is a 25,203-seat football stadium on the campus of the University of Montana in Missoula. The stadium opened on October 18, 1986 and is home to the University of Montana Grizzlies, a dominant program in Division I-AA. Montana has been to the national title game five times since 1995, winning twice (1995, 2001), and finishing as runner-up four times (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008).

Arial view of Washington-Grizzly Stadium taken on November 18, 2006 during the "Brawl of the Wild". The football game against cross-state rival Montana State set an all-time attendance record of 24,018 (at the time). Washington Grizzly Stadium

The stadium received its name after Montana construction magnate Dennis Washington donated 1 million dollars to finance the stadium's construction in 1985. The stadium has been expanded three times since its opening in 1986, most recently in 2003 when 4000 additional seats were added.

The original capacity was 12,500 permanent seats on the sidelines with grass seating behind the end zones, an approximate capacity of 15,000. Permanent seating for the end zones was installed in 1995, bringing the seating capacity to over 19,000 and most recently an upper deck expansion of 2,000 seats was constructed on the east side of the stadium in time for the 2008 season.

Sprinturf was installed in 2001, replacing the natural grass playing field. The playing surface is 20 feet (6 m) below ground level at an elevation of 3190 feet (972 m) above sea level. The video screen GrizVison, at 26' × 36' (8 m × 11 m), is the largest in a FCS football stadium. It was installed in 2002.

Before Washington-Grizzly Stadium opened, the Grizzlies played off-campus at "new" Dornblaser Field from 1968 until 1986. Before that, Montana played on-campus at "old" Dornblaser Field from 1920-67 (both named for Paul Dornblaser, football captain in 1912). Prior to 1920, Montana played its home games at a field in downtown Missoula near the former Missoulian newspaper building.

Attendance Opponent Result Date
1 25,726 Portland State W, 49-17 Sept. 19, 2009
2 25,698 Western State W, 38-0 Sept. 5, 2009
3 25,629 Montana State W, 35-3 Nov. 22, 2008
4 25,486 Sacramento State W, 43-7 Oct. 18, 2008
5 25,326 Central Washington W, 38-35 Sept. 27, 2008
6 25,209 U.C. Davis W, 29-24 Sept. 20, 2008
7 25,056 Southern Utah W, 46-10 Sept. 13, 2008

View of Washington-Grizzly Stadium from Mount Sentinel taken on October 4, 2006 during The Rolling Stones concert.
Washington Grizzly Stadium

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