GlobeStadiums

Officially named California Memorial Stadium, Memorial Stadium is the current home for Cal football. It was opened in 1923, and currently seats 72,662 spectators.

The stadium was built with money raised from public contributions, as a memorial to the fallen of World War I. The chair of the architectural committee was John Galen Howard, the University’s chief architect, and his influence is evident in the stadium’s neoclassical motif. The stadium has no track, so the stands come right up to the football field. Currently the stadium sports a FieldTurf surface, but has sported AstroTurf and natural grass. The FieldTurf surface allows football practices and less popular sports such as lacrosse to be held on the field. Previously, those games would be held in other athletic fields nearby.

The Hayward Fault passes under Memorial Stadium, where right-lateral strike-slip motion is shifting the northeast half of the building to the southwest at a rate of 1 cm/yr. Expansion joints have been placed in the walls of the stadium to maintain the integrity of the building. A 1998 seismic safety study at the Berkeley campus gave the stadium a “poor” rating (meaning that the building represents an “appreciable life hazard” in an earthquake), and estimated the cost of making the structure safe in an earthquake at $14 million.

In February 2005, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau announced plans to renovate Memorial Stadium, improving the existing facilities while providing new ones for various university departments and programs. The first phase of those rennovations took place during the spring and summer of 2006.

Traditionally, during most football games and especially during the Big Game against Stanford University, the hill overlooking the eastern side of the Stadium attracts spectators hoping to watch a game for free. The hill has become known as “Tightwad Hill” as a result.

[Source: Wikipedia]