The Yale Bowl inspired the design and naming of the Rose Bowl, from which is derived the name of college football's post-season games (bowl games) and the NFL's Super Bowl.
Yale v Harvard game at Yale Field, 1908 (predecessor stadium to Yale Bowl)
Ground was broken on the stadium in August 1913. Fill excavated from the field area was used to build up a berm around the perimeter to create an elliptical bowl. The facade was designed to partially echo the campus's Neo-Gothic design, and, as with some central campus buildings, acid was applied to imitate the effects of aging.
The Yale Bowl's designer, Charles A. Ferry, for unknown reasons chose not to include locker rooms (or restrooms).[5] Players dress in the Smilow Field Center and walk 200 yards (185 m) to the field. When the NFL's Giants played at the stadium (1973, 1974), the pro players disliked the arrangement, but Yale players reportedly enjoy the walk. Fans cheer for the team as it marches to the stadium while the Yale Band plays, a tradition known as the "Bulldog Walk."[6]
The Bowl's first game, on November 21, 1914, drew more than 68,000 spectators,[7] who watched the Bulldogs lose 36–0 to rivalHarvard.[5][8]
In 1958, a new scoreboard was installed; its distinctive clock was arranged vertically instead of horizontally.
During the 1970s, the Bowl hosted several concerts. In 1971, Yes performed on July 24 and the Grateful Dead on July 31, a recording of which was released as Road Trips Volume 1 Number 3. But neighborhood opposition to the concerts brought them to an end after a June 14, 1980, show featuring the Eagles, Heart, and The Little River Band. A picture from the show was published with the vinyl edition of the Eagles double live album, issued later that year, though no recordings from the event are included on the discs. A Paul McCartney concert was scheduled for June 1990, but cancelled amid neighbors' opposition; the show was moved to Chicago.
In 1991, the Bowl's vicinity saw the addition of the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center, home to the annual ATP/WTA event (the Pilot Pen tournament), across Yale Avenue from the stadium.
By the 21st century, many of the outside retaining walls and portal entries were deteriorating. In the spring and summer of 2006, the bowl received a partial renovation, including a new scoreboard. The work was completed just in time for the first home game of the Yale football team's season on September 16.
The annual game between Yale and its rival Harvard, known locally as The Game, is held at the Yale Bowl every other year. In 2023, its attendance was over 51,000.[10]
Panoramic view of Yale Bowl. Scoreboard at left. Yale/Cornell football game, September 28, 2019. The "147" stands for the number of Yale football seasons (and teams) until that point.
Sports
Football
NFL
The New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) won just one of the dozen home games they played in New Haven in the 1973 and 1974 seasons. (With the exception of the games played with replacement teams during the 1987 NFL strike and the COVID-19-disrupted 2020 season, the attendance at the final game at the Yale Bowl is the smallest at a Giants' home game since 1955.) The team also played preseason games in the stadium, including the first-ever game against future rival and stadium share partner, the defending Super Bowl champion New York Jets, a Sunday afternoon sellout in mid-August 1969.[11][12][13]
The Connecticut Bicentennials of the NASL played two seasons at the Yale Bowl, mostly in front of dismal crowds. Even their highest-ever home attendance, against the New York Cosmos in 1977, drew only 17,302 fans, leaving the stadium more than three-quarters empty. However, the Bi's could only draw a total of 57,438—less than the Bowl's capacity for a single game—in their other 21 home games combined, an average of only 2,735 per contest. After the 1977 season, the club relocated to become the Oakland Stompers.
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