GlobeStadiums

Bronco Stadium is a football stadium in [Boise, Idaho]] on the campus of Boise State University. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the BSU Broncos. The stadium is also the site of the annual MPC Computers Bowl. Most of the local high schools (within Ada County) play their home games at the stadium, on Thursday & Friday nights.

The stadium opened in 1970 as a replacement for the original Bronco Stadium, a small facility built in 1950. The new stadium cost $2.2 million and originally sat 14,500. It originally consisted of two sideline grandstands, the west having a second deck. The field was green astroturf. In 1974 the second deck was added to the east side, bringing the capacity to 20,000, with 2,600 temporary seats brought in for bigger games. A new green astroturf field was installed in 1978. The most notable change occurred in 1986, when the university first installed the stadium’s trademark blue Astroturf (sometimes derided as “Smurf Turf”). It was replaced in 1995, as a part of a major stadium expansion which added seats to both southern ends of the sideline grandstands, which now curved around the stadium’s orange-colored Ed Jacoby Track (orange is the other school color), and adding the Allen Noble Hall of Fame Gallery and the Larry and Marianne Williams Plaza to the southwest corner. Both are attached to the Nicholson-Yanke Athletic Center, an original part of the stadium, as is the Fedrizzi Fitness Center Annex (1988/2004) and the Bronco Football Complex (2000). Since the running track is still in use, the end zone seats remain temporary. The blue Astroturf was replaced in 2004 with blue AstroPlay, a more forgiving athletic field surface. Since the original installation, the NCAA has banned playing surfaces (with the exception of the end zones) in any color other than green. Because Boise State was the only football field at the time in the country with a different colored turf, the university was granted an exemption.

As the Boise State football program saw a rapid rise to prominence in the early 2000s, Bronco Stadium became increasingly insufficient. The school is planning to build a new 3-story complex on the stadium’s west side that would feature levels for a new press box, luxury suites, and club seating (in descending order). Another plan is to enclose the stadium by adding seats in the north end zone, and completing the stadium’s horseshoe in the south end zone. With the additions, Bronco Stadium’s capacity is expected to increase to around 50,000. The planned additions have not yet materialized, as they have only been announced. The plans were announced around the time the university announced plans to build a new indoor practice facility. The practice facility, which officially opened in February 2006, is known as the Cavin-Williams Sports Complex and is located just outside of the north end of Bronco Stadium.

Since 1997, the MPC Computers Bowl (originally called the Humanitarian Bowl until 2003) has been held at the stadium. It holds the distinction of being the longest-running outdoor bowl game in a cold-weather venue.

[Source: Wikipedia]