Sun Bowl Stadium
Encyclopedia
The Sun Bowl is an outdoor 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...

 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...

, on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso
University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso is a four-year state university, and is a component institution of the University of Texas System. Its campus is located on the bank of the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas. The school was founded in 1914 as The Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy,...

. It is home to the UTEP Miners
UTEP Miners
The UTEP Miners is the name given to the sports teams of the University of Texas at El Paso. Informally, the UTEP Miners have also been referred to as the Miners, UTEP, or Texas-El Paso. UTEP was a member of the Western Athletic Conference from 1967 to 2005, when they joined Rice, Tulsa, and SMU in...

 of Conference USA
Conference USA
Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports...

 , and the late December 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...

 bowl game
Bowl game
In North America, a bowl game is commonly considered to refer to one of a number of post-season college football games. Prior to 2002, bowl game statistics were not included in players' career totals and the games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating...

, the Hyundai
Hyundai
Hyundai ) is a global conglomerate company, part of the Korean chaebol, that was founded in South Korea by one of the most famous businessmen in Korean history: Chung Ju-yung...

 Sun Bowl
Sun Bowl
The Sun Bowl is an annual U.S. college football bowl game that is usually played at the end of December in El Paso, Texas. The Sun Bowl, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Orange Bowl are the second-oldest bowl games in the country, behind the Rose Bowl...

. The stadium was opened in 1963
1963 in sports
1963 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* January 29 – First inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are announced* AFL Eastern Division Playoff – Boston Patriots win 26–8 over the Buffalo Bills...

 and has a current 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...

 of 51,500.

The land on which the stadium sits was originally donated by the university to El Paso County, Texas, who built the stadium for the school and the Sun Bowl
Sun Bowl
The Sun Bowl is an annual U.S. college football bowl game that is usually played at the end of December in El Paso, Texas. The Sun Bowl, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Orange Bowl are the second-oldest bowl games in the country, behind the Rose Bowl...

 game. Both had previously used Kidd Field
Kidd Field
Kidd Field is an athletic facility used primarily by UTEP in El Paso, TX. Contstructed for its then-primary use as a football field in 1938, it was the site of the Sun Bowl until 1963 when Sun Bowl Stadium opened. Kidd Field is used for track and field meets today. Kidd Field cost $2,000 to build,...

, the school's current track and field stadium, which only seats 15,000. The city had realized that the game could not expand its audience or the list of teams that it could invite without a bigger stadium, so the Sun Bowl was built in a natural bowl lying to the west of the old stadium. The AstroPlay playing field runs nearly north–south (tilted about 10 degrees NW-SE) and is at an elevation of 3910 feet (1191 m) above sea level.

The stadium, named for the game it hosts, was opened in September 1963
1963 in sports
1963 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* January 29 – First inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are announced* AFL Eastern Division Playoff – Boston Patriots win 26–8 over the Buffalo Bills...

 with a Texas Western
University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso is a four-year state university, and is a component institution of the University of Texas System. Its campus is located on the bank of the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas. The school was founded in 1914 as The Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy,...

 win over North Texas State
University of North Texas
The University of North Texas is a public institution of higher education and research in Denton. Founded in 1890, UNT is part of the University of North Texas System. As of the fall of 2010, the University of North Texas, Denton campus, had a certified enrollment of 36,067...

. The opening play was a 54-yard touchdown run by Larry Durham of the Miners.

It originally sat 30,000, with only the sideline grandstands. The current press box was added in 1969
1969 in sports
1969 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup:** Men's overall champion: Karl Schranz, Austria** Women's overall champion: Gertrud Gabl, Austria-American football:...

, and the stadium reached the current capacity in 1982
1982 in sports
1982 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup:** Men's overall season champion: Phil Mahre, United States** Women's overall season champion: Erika Hess, Switzerland-American football:...

 with the addition of the north endzone stands and the expansion of the east stands (The south endzone is still vacant, with the ground of the bowl covered with the school's logos.) The school retook control of the land and stadium in 2001
2001 in sports
2001 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Hermann Maier, Austria** Women's overall season champion: Janica Kostelić, Croatia-American football:...

.

The stadium holds the unusual distinction of being the closest major American stadium to a foreign country, sitting less than half a mile from the Rio Grande River and the Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 city of Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez , officially known today as Heroica Ciudad Juárez, but abbreviated Juárez and formerly known as El Paso del Norte, is a city and seat of the municipality of Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Juárez's estimated population is 1.5 million people. The city lies on the Rio Grande...

.

For a short time before moving to Dudley Field
Dudley Field (El Paso)
Dudley Field was the home of several El Paso baseball teams since its construction in 1924. The field was named after then Mayor R.M. Dudley, and originally hosted the El Paso Texans team. Later the stadium played home to the El Paso Sun Kings, which later became the El Paso Diablos...

, it was the home to PDL
USL Premier Development League
The USL Premier Development League is the amateur league of the United Soccer Leagues in the United States, Canada, and Bermuda, forming part of the American Soccer Pyramid...

 franchise, the El Paso Patriots
El Paso Patriots
Chivas El Paso Patriots is an American soccer team based in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1989, the team plays in the USL Premier Development League , the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Mid South Division of the Southern Conference.The team plays its home games at...

. They now play at Patriot Stadium
Patriot Stadium
Patriot Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium located in El Paso, Texas. It is the home stadium of the PDL club, Chivas El Paso Patriots. The stadium replaced Dudley Field. Its capacity is about 3,000....

.

On February 2, 2007, the stadium hosted the first ever Texas vs. The Nation all star college football game
Texas vs. The Nation Game
The NFLPA Game is a post-season college football all-star game that was established in 2006 as the concluding game of the college football post-season. The game is currently played at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The game was previously known as the Texas vs...

. The Nation team defeated the Texas team by a score of 24-20.

External links

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