Home of the Marshall Thundering Herd, Joan C. Edwards Stadium is one of the few college football stadiums built in the 1990s. In the mid 1980s discussion for a new stadium for the football team began. It was needed to replace the deteriorating Fairfield Stadium that had been the home to Marshall since 1927. By 1990, that discussion became a reality as construction began on a new stadium. Originally known as Marshall Stadium, the Thundering Herd played their first game at the stadium against the New Hampshire Wildcats on September 7, 1991.

The stadium originally had a seating capacity of 28,000 and a standing room capacity of 30,000. Since its opening there have been several additions to the stadium. In 1995, 2,000 seats were added in the south endzone. During Summer 2000, just over 8,000 seats were added to the south endzone. In November 2003, Marshall Stadium was renamed in honor Joan C. Edwards for her devotion and generosity to the university. It is one of two stadiums in Division-1 football to be named after a woman. In 2005 the Astro Turf playing field was replaced with Fieldturf. Today, Joan Edwards Stadium has a seating capacity of 38,000, including 20 luxury suites. In the future the stadium may be expanded even more as it was built to be expandable to seat 55,000 fans.