It’s…A beautiful day for football,” announced at every Spartan football game, no matter the weather, is just one of many traditions found at Spartan Stadium. In the early 1920s university officials decided to construct a new stadium for the football team to replace Old College Field. Completed by the 1923 season, the new stadium for the Spartans had a seating capacity of 14,000. As the team grew in popularity, so did the stadium. In 1935, the seating capacity was increased to 26,000 and the facility was named Macklin Field after former football coach John Macklin. Thirteen years later the stadium’s capacity nearly doubled and by 1956, the stadium had a seating capacity of 60,000.

Prior to the 1957 season the upper decks were constructed on both sides of the playing field boosting the capacity to 76,000. Furthermore, the stadium was renamed Spartan Stadium. Astroturf replaced the natural grass field before the 1969 season and a new modern scoreboard was added in 1973. The Spartans installed a new modern video/scoreboard before the 1991. Before the start of the 2005 season, a new pressbox, 24 luxury suites and 862 club seats were constructed on the west side of Spartan Stadium. With the completion of this renovation, Spartan Stadium seats around 75,000 fans. A new HD video/scoreboard was installed before the 2012 season. Prior to the start of the 2014 season, a new locker room and football operations complex was completed at Spartan Stadium. The $24 million facility is located as part of the north endzone. In June 2016 the university announced plans to add lights to the stadium. The project, completed by the start of the 2017 season, adds permanent LED lights to Spartan Stadium.