History
The former South Park Commission (the Commission merged with 22 other park systems to establish the Chicago Park District in 1934) hired Chicago architects Holibird and Roche in 1919 to design a stadium that would serve as a showcase “for events and a playground for the people.” On October 9, 1924, the Grant Park Municipal Stadium premiered and one year later, at the request of the Chicago Gold Star Mothers, the stadium was renamed Soldier Field.
It was known as one of the great venues during the "Golden Age of Sports" and one of Chicago's most famous landmarks. Crowds in excess of 100,000 were commonplace, marked by several memorable events including the 1926 Army-Navy game and the epic 1927 Jack Dempsey/Gene Tunney heavyweight rematch featuring the controversial "long count". In 1944, 150,000 spectators attended a wartime visit by President Franklin Roosevelt and thousands turned out to hear evangelist Billy Graham in 1962. Soldier Field is also the birthplace of the first Special Olympic Games in 1968. College and Professional football, rock concerts, festivals, rodeos, stock-car races, and even a skiing/toboggan event have called Soldier Field home. The Chicago Bears moved from Wrigley Field and began using the facility in 1971 and played their first game in the renovated Soldier Field on September 29, 2003.
Soldier Field has been a Chicago landmark since 1924. With a capacity of 63,500, the public facility is home to the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Fire, and hosts an array of sporting, entertainment, and community events each year. Owned by the Chicago Park District, Soldier Field is managed by ASM Global, the global leader in venue management.
Natural Turf Field
The playing field at Soldier Field is a natural grass field (Kentucky blue-grass and rye blend). The field is resodded multiple times per year with consultation from the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Fire as it is the preferred surface for both football and soccer. Nine inches below the root zone, more than 20 miles of ¾-inch plastic tubing circulates warm water and glycol (to prevent freezing), in a radiant heating system that extends the grass’ growing season. It also helps melt snow and keep the ground from freezing, so the surface remains pliable.
Important Dates
Interesting Facts
Soldier Field has played host to college (2013 & 2015 Windy City Classic) and professional hockey games (NHL Winter Classic in 2014), 2012 NATO Summit, countless concerts, thrill shows, rodeos, tractor and truck pulls, circuses, fireworks displays, stock car races, sunrise services, marching band concerts, open-air operas, skiing and toboggan events including a ski jump event from a 13-story platform.
- The stadium’s underpinnings consist of 10,000 giant wood piling foundations driven an average depth of six stories through landfill to bedrock.
- It hosted the first boxing event that drew a gate of over $2.5 million (Dempsey-Tunney, 1927), the first ski meet held in a stadium, and the all-time largest football crowd (123,000). The largest crowd for any event in Soldier Field was 260,000 on Sept. 8, 1954, for the religious Marian Year Tribute.
