Byrd Stadium

Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium (usually simply "Byrd Stadium"), is an outdoor athletic stadium on the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. It is the home of the Maryland Terrapins football and lacrosse teams, which compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The facility is named after Harry "Curley" Byrd, a multi-sport athlete, football coach, and university president in the first half of the 20th century. In August 2006, naming rights were sold to Chevy Chase Bank, which was subsequently acquired by Capital One.

History
Byrd Stadium, constructed at a cost of $1 million, opened September 30, 1950 in order to replace an older, much smaller stadium of the same name. For four decades, Byrd Stadium consisted of a horseshoe-shaped bowl with capacity of 34,680. In 1991, the five-story Tyser Tower, featuring luxury suites and an expanded press area, was completed on the south side of the stadium, as well as the Gossett Football Team House adjacent to the east endzone. In 1995, the stadium's capacity was raised to 48,055 through the addition of an upper deck on the north side of the stadium. In November 2001, as the football team once again became an ACC-title contender, temporary bleachers were brought in for an additional 3,000 seats. Those bleachers remain to this day. In 2002, a full-color video scoreboard was added in the east endzone and an expansion of the Gossett Football Team House was begun. The athletic department hoped to parlay the success of the Ralph Friedgen era into a stadium expansion that would have increased capacity to 65,000, but considering that attendance has become sparse over the last several years, under Friedgen and Randy Edsall, those plans have been put on hold or abandoned. Byrd Stadium's attendance record is 58,973, set on November 1, 1975. The record was achieved with temporary seating for a game featuring the #14 Terps and #9 Penn State.

The lone version of the Presidential Cup college football bowl game was held here in December 1950. The USFL Baltimore Stars called the stadium home in 1985. Byrd Stadium has also hosted the Division I NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship ten times.

Renaming and expansion plans
On August 24, 2006, the University of Maryland announced that it had agreed to a $20 million naming-rights deal with Chevy Chase Bank. The revenue from the deal was used to pay for renovations and upgrades to the Stadium.

On April 25, 2007, the Athletic Department unveiled plans for a $50.8 million expansion to Byrd Stadium, a project that will increase overall capacity, add skyboxes complete with catered food and flat panel televisions, and lower the field to give spectators a better view.

The first phase of the expansion plans has been completed and included renovating the old press tower and building 63 luxury suites that stretch from end zone to end zone. New mezzanine seating was added as well, bringing the capacity from 51,500 to 54,000. A second LED video board was installed on the west side of the stadium just before the 2008 season.

The second phase is to add an 8,000 seat upper deck to the stadium's west end zone bringing total seating capacity to over 60,000. This is dependent on the sale of all existing luxury suites from phase one. To date, no schedule for construction has been established.

On June 20, 2012, the Athletic Department announced plans for a new field at Byrd Stadium. FieldTurf Revolution will be installed and the turf will include a new technology known as "CoolPlay" that will keep the field cooler (up to 15 degrees Fahrenheit cooler) than traditional turf fields with rubber infill. It will be the first installation of its kind in the United States, and will be ready for the 2012 football season in September.

Trivia

 * Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip saw their first game of American football at Byrd Stadium during their first trip to the U.S. in the 1950s.
 * On a clear day, the tops of the five tallest structures in Washington D.C. can be seen from the top of stadium: the Washington Monument, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the Old Post Office Pavillion, the Washington National Cathedral, and the United States Capitol. On a clear night, it is possible to see the lights of the Washington Monument, which is about 8 miles (13 km) away.