Michie Stadium
(pronounced "Mike-ee") is an outdoor football stadium located on the campus of the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. It is the home field for the Army Black Knights (or "Cadets"). It opened in 1924 and has a current seating capacity of 40,000. [1]
The stadium sits at the upper portion of campus, directly west of Lusk Reservoir. The AstroPlay field is at an elevation of 335 feet (102 m) above sea level and runs in the traditional north-south configuration, with the press box above the west sideline.
Because of the incredible view offered by its location, overlooking the Hudson River and the medieval-style campus below, it was rated as Sports Illustrated's #3 sports venue of the 20th Century.
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Dennis Michie
Michie Stadium is dedicated to the memory of
Dennis Michie, who was instrumental in starting football at the Academy in 1890. Michie organized, managed, and coached the first football team in history at West Point. He was later killed during the
Spanish-American War in 1898. There have been several facelifts since the stadium's first game in October 1924, when Army defeated
Saint Louis 17-0.
Blaik Field
On
September 25,
1999 the football field at Michie Stadium was named
Blaik Field
, in honor of
Earl "Red" Blaik, the
head coach at West Point from
1941-
58. Blaik led Army to two national titles, in
1944 and
1945.
Playing Surface
The playing surface is
AstroPlay, similar to
FieldTurf, which replaced the
astroturf in
2001. The stadium's playing field was natural grass until
astroturf was installed in
1977.
Future Improvements
The removal of the old scoreboard was the first step in making way for a brand new, 30-foot by 50-foot scoreboard, complete with a 20-foot by 50-foot high-definition video board, that will be installed for the upcoming season 2008 campaign. The turf on Blaik Field is also scheduled to be replaced. Both projects are slated to start on Monday, June 2 2008.
Army-Navy Game
Michie Stadium has hosted the
Army-Navy Game only once, in
1943. The rivalry game is normally played at a neutral site between the campuses on the
East Coast; usually in
Philadelphia in early December.
References
- www.goarmysports.com