Byrd Stadium – stadium description

The stadium in western College Park was first opened in 1923, though the initial one wasn’t among the most impressive. With roughly 30,000 capacity at peak, this stadium had quite inconsistent stands, some built in concrete, some with steel.

It also had a running track, a feature retained in the new stadium opened in 1950. This time with all stands very much the same, built on sloped land. It was shaped as a horseshoe with the curve in the west and, obviously, the east end open. It began operating with almost 35,000 capacity, but as the Terrapins football team grew, additional temporary sections were being added on top of the existing structures. By late 1980s, the stadium had a total of 22 such sections, achieving roughly 10,000 additional places.

The landscape changes largely in 1991, when the south side received a 5-storey tower for press members and VIP guests, among other uses. Tyser Tower was joined that same year by new football facilities in the east, which were built in the place of the running track’s east curve.

In 1995 another major addition came in the form of second and third tiers in the north, raising capacity to over 48,000. And finally in 2008 the Tyser Tower was expanded to huge sizes, accommodating 63 skyboxes and numerous other rooms.

In 2006 the stadium received its first commercial name after University of Maryland signed a deal with Capital One. But, as unexpected as it may be, it wasn’t the commercial part of the stadium’s name that brought controversy. In 2015 opposition began growing against the name of Harry Clifton Byrd, prominent coach in the university’s history, who reportedly was a white supremacist.