Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium
Overview
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...
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 Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
, USA. Veterans Memorial Stadium is the home field of the Jackson State University
Jackson State University
Jackson State University is a historically black university founded in 1877 in Natchez, MS by the American Baptist Home Mission Society of New York. The Society moved the school to Jackson in 1882, renaming it Jackson College, and developed its present campus in 1902. It became a state supported...
Tigers. In July 2011, Jackson State University will own and operate the stadium. The stadium also plays host to the Mississippi High School Activities Association
Mississippi High School Activities Association
The Mississippi High School Activities Association is the official sanctioning body of all public and some private junior high and high school academic and athletic competitions in the State of Mississippi. It is a non-profit organization and is headquartered in Clinton, Mississippi...
state championship football games every fall and other special events, and it has hosted several NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
exhibition games.
The stadium hosted an NFL preseason game between the New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League ....
and Indianapolis Colts
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....
on August 26, 2006, in which the Colts won 27-14.
After initially being built in 1941 with stands on both sides of the field, the northwest corner was bowled in 1980 to increase the seating capacity
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
to its current size (about 62,000); until the recent expansion of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
Vaught-Hemingway Stadium at Hollingsworth Field is an outdoor athletic stadium located in Oxford, Mississippi. The stadium serves as the home for the University of Mississippi Rebels college football team...
in Oxford, Veterans Stadium was the largest sports facility in Mississippi.
Historically, Ole Miss
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...
, Mississippi State
Mississippi State University
The Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science commonly known as Mississippi State University is a land-grant university located in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States, partially in the town of Starkville and partially in an unincorporated area...
and Southern Miss's college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
teams regularly played selected important games there.
