The University of Pennsylvania's historic football stadium has hosted the best in collegiate and professional competition for most of the century. Originally opened in 1895 (at a cost of $100,000) for the first running of the Penn Relays, the stadium was rebuiltÊin 1922 in its present form.ÊFranklin Field, deemed by the NCAA as the oldest stadium still operating for football games, has been the site of the nation's first scoreboard (1895), the nation's first two-tiered stadium (1922), the first football radio broadcast (WIP, 1922), the first football telecast (PhilCo, 1939) and Vince Lombardi's only NFL playoff loss (1960).
The Army-Navy series moved to Franklin Field in 1899 and in 1925, Red Grange set an NCAA record with 331 rushing yards as Illinois owned Penn. During the 1930's and 1940's, Penn led the nation in attendance for several years as crowds often numbered as many as 80,000. Today, the newly refurbished stadium seats 52,593.
SprinTurf, a next-generation rubber-infill artificial surface, was installed in 2004. The state-of-the-art scoreboard and videoboard keep fans well-informed of the action on the field and track. Franklin Field has also been the home of the Philadelphia Eagles and has hosted the Historic Penn Relays for over 100 years.
