Folsom Field is an outdoor football stadium on the campus of the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. It is the home field of the Colorado Buffaloes of the Big 12 Conference. The horseshoe-shaped stadium runs in the traditional north-south configuration, opening to the north. The CU athletic administration center, named after 1950s head coach Dal Ward, is located at the north end. The playing field returned to natural grass in 1999, and sits at an elevation of 5360 feet (1633 m) above sea level . Folsom Field is the third highest stadium in major college football, behind only Wyoming and Air Force of the Mountain West Conference.

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History

Folsom Field opened in 1924, and has been the home of the CU football team ever since. Through the 2007 football season, the Buffs have a home record of 286-139-14, a winning percentage of .667. Prior to the opening of Folsom Field, CU played its games at Gamble Field for two decades, where the seating capacity of 9,000 was limited to temporary bleachers.

Originally known as Colorado Stadium for its first twenty years, it was renamed in 1944, following the death of legendary CU coach Fred Folsom. He coached the Buffs from 1895-1902 and 1908-15, compiling a 78-24-2 (.760) overall record.

Renovations

When opened in 1924, the horseshoe-shaped stadium had a capacity of 26,000. A second deck was added in 1956 which upped the capacity to 45,000, and 6,000 more seats were added in 1967 with the removal of the running track. In 1968 a huge, six-level press box was added to the top of the west side grandstand, directly in front of Balch Fieldhouse, the former home of the basketball team. Renovations continued in 1976 when the old, rickety wooden bleachers were replaced with aluminum ones, raising the capacity to 52,005. In 2003, suites and club seating was added to the east side of the stadium, raising the capacity to 53,750.

Playing surface

From 1924-70, the playing surface at Folsom Field was natural grass. In 1971, AstroTurf was installed and the first game played on the new surface was on against Wyoming on September 18th. (The Buffs finished third in the national AP poll in 1971, behind Nebraska and Oklahoma, for a national sweep for the Big Eight conference.) The synthetic turf was replaced in 1978 and again in 1989, with "Astroturf-8.".

After 28 years of AstroTurf, Folsom Field returned to natural grass in the spring of 1999. The project, which included bio-thermal heating, drainage, and a sub-air system, cost $1.2 million.

Other Uses

Folsom has played host to many top national recording acts, including The Rolling Stones, The Who, Paul McCartney, Eagles, Van Halen, REO Speedwagon, The Beach Boys, Grateful Dead, The Doobie Brothers, Journey, Jethro Tull, John Mellencamp and the Dave Matthews Band.

The south end zone was featured in the opening sequence of the late 1970s television show Mork and Mindy. It is also used as the finish line for the Bolder Boulder 10 kilometer road race.

The first Promise Keepers stadium conference was held at Folsom in June 1992.

The stadium was featured in the closing credits of the television show Mork and Mindy , which was set in Boulder.

Attendance Records

CU’s all-time record at Folsom Field, through 2007, is 286-139-14 (.667). The largest crowd for a football game was 54,972, when the Buffs played Colorado State on September 3, 2005. Since 1998, the early season non-conference rivalry game with CSU is usually played in neutral Denver.

The top crowd ever at Folsom Field was for a rock concert on May 1, 1977, for one of the popular Colorado Sun Day concert series. The attendance was an estimated 61,500 (exceeding the largest football crowd by about 9,000) for a show featuring Fleetwood Mac, Bob Seger, Santana and Country Joe McDonald.

Season	Games	Sold Out	W-L-T	Attendance	Average
1937	6		6-0-0	46,826	7,804
1942	4		4-0-0	15,796	3,949
1946	5		4-0-1	53,000	10,600
1947	4		2-2-0	54,000	13,500
1948	5		3-2-0	79,479	15,896
1949	5		2-3-0	98,776	19,755
1950	5		4-1-0	97,748	19,550
1951	5		5-0-0	107,121	21,424
1952	5	2	3-0-2	123,481	24,696
1953	5		3-2-0	113,640	22,728
1954	5	2	3-2-0	129,700	25,940
1955	5	1	4-1-0	113,500	22,700
1956	5	2	3-2-0	175,000	35,000
1957	5		3-2-0	152,500	30,500
1958	5	1	2-3-0	187,500	37,500
1959	6		3-3-0	177,903	29,651
1960	5	1	4-1-0	185,653	37,131
1961	6	1	5-1-0	199,987	33,331
1962	4		2-2-0	116,000	29,000
1963	5		1-4-0	135,000	27,000
1964	5		1-4-0	140,600	28,120
1965	5		3-1-1	129,700	25,940
1966	5	1	3-2-0	196,188	39,238
1967	5		4-1-0	196,817	39,363
1968	5	1	3-2-0	215,574	43,115
1969	5		5-0-0	175,104	35,021
1970	5	1	3-2-0	219,521	43,904
1971	5		5-0-0	220,171	44,034
1972	6	3	5-1-0	307,044	51,174
1973	5		3-2-0	246,521	49,304
1974	5	2	3-2-0	253,762	50,752
1975	6		6-0-0	281,199	46,867
1976	6	2	5-1-0	300,191	50,032
1977	6	2	5-1-0	293,483	48,914
1978	8	2	5-3-0	383,048	47,881
1979	6		1-5-0	265,956	44,326
1980	6	1	1-5-0	245,868	40,978
1981	6		3-3-0	209,224	34,871
1982	7	1	1-6-0	251,909	41,985
1983	6	1	3-3-0	237,674	39,612
1984	6	1	1-5-0	235,670	39,278
1985	6		4-2-0	220,734	36,789
1986	6	2	3-3-0	269,546	44,924
1987	6	1	4-2-0	268,711	44,785
1988	6		4-2-0	235,142	39,190
1989	6	2	6-0-0	293,726	48,954
1990	6	4	6-0-0	310,374	51,729
1991	6	4	4-1-1	311,458	51,910
1992	6	4	5-0-1	309,900	51,650
1993	6	5	4-2-0	311,360	51,893
1994	6	3	6-0-0	304,897	50,816
1995	6	4	4-2-0	312,958	52,160
1996	6	4	5-1-0	312,586	52,098
1997	6	2	3-3-0	309,947	51,658
1998	6		5-1-0	284,512	47,419
1999	5	1	4-1-0	239,313	47,863
2000	5		1-4	249,950	49,990
2001	6	1	5-1	284,848	47,475
2002	6	2	5-1	295,286	49,214
2003	6	2	3-3	302,588	50,431
2004	6	1	4-2	287,368	47,895
2005	6	2	5-1	302,452	50,409
2006	6		6-0	276,286	46,048
2007	6		3-3	303,051	50,509