Texas A&M Commerce Memorial Stadium is a stadium

Stadium

A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...

 in Commerce

Commerce, Texas

Commerce is a city in Hunt County, Texas, United States, located in rural East Texas. The population was 7,669 at the 2000 census, however recent growth and its proximity to Interstate 30 and the eastern Metroplex has put the population around 9750...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. It is primarily used for American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

, and is the home field of the Texas A&M University–Commerce

Texas A&M University–Commerce

Texas A&M University–Commerce is a state university located in Commerce, Texas and a member of the Texas A&M University System, the second largest university within the system behind Texas A&M University in College Station....

 Lion Football and Men's and Women's Track and Field teams as well as for Commerce High School Tiger football teams in the Commerce Independent School District

Commerce Independent School District

Commerce Independent School District is a public school district based in Commerce, Texas .In addition to Commerce, the district also serves the town of Neylandville...

.

Stadium History

The stadium opened in 1950 as Commerce Memorial Stadium, then just became Memorial Stadium in honor of World War I and World War II veterans. The dedication ceremony featured U.S. Speaker of the House and Texas A&M-Commerce Alumnus Sam Rayburn and former Texas lieutenant governor Walter Woodul. General Douglas MacArthur, while not in attendance, wrote to then University President James Gee that "I am delighted and honored," to have his quotation affixed to the plaque honoring the Lions fallen comrades. That quote, also chiseled on the stadium at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, is a famous one:

"Upon the fields of friendly strife,
Are sown the seeds that,
Upon other fields, on other days,
Will bear the fruits of victory."

Games played and Stadium History

The first game played was A&M Commerce VS. North Texas Eagles, with the Eagles coming out on top, 42-20 in front of the 12,000 fans from all over North Texas area.
The Lions have almost a 70 percent winning record at Memorial Stadium. The Lions won the 1972 National Championship in front of almost 16,000 fans, the record crowd to this day. Other notable victories include a come from behind win in 1969 over Stephen F Austin State 36-35 in which the Lions claimed one of over 20 Lone Star Conference titles, another win in which they snapped Texas A&M Kingsville's 46-game winning streak with a 7-6 win, and a stunning upset of Pittsburgh State in 1991, 20-13, the same year Pittsburgh State would win the Division II National Championship.

Renovations and improvements

Since 2004, the stadium has undergone major renovations and upgrades to attract more recruits and revive the storied football program and boost attendance for not just Lion fans but also for visiting team fans. In 2006, the natural grass was replaced with a

Safeplay

artificial surface, and the scoreboard replaced and upgraded, and a new all-weather track replaced the old track surface. In 2008, new locker rooms were built for both home and visitor teams, new field goal posts were also added and the T-Lounge fan section was renovated. In 2010, the most significant renovations came when the stadium rebuilt the visitor side, adding 3500 seats and another press box, a video scoreboard, which is the second largest in all of NCAA Division II athletics. The stadium now has a capacity of 13,500.

Other Functions

In addition to football games for Texas A&M Commerce and Commerce High School, it also hosts college and high school track meets, including the

University Interscholastic League

Conference 3A Region II track meet, which is a precursor to the Texas High School State Track meet in Austin. It also hosts Texas High School football playoff games with Commerce's proximity to the Dallas, Texas metro area and also to the far northwestern parts of East Texas.
33°14′45"N 95°54′36"W