Franklin Field

Franklin Field is the University of Pennsylvania's football stadium. It originally opened in 1895 at a cost of $100,000.00 for the first running of the Penn Relays. The Field, deemed by the NCAA as the oldest stadium still operating for football games, has been the site of the nation's first scoreboard in 1895, and became the nation's first two-tiered football stadium in 1922.

Related Topics:
University of Pennsylvania - Football - 1895 - Penn Relays - NCAA - 1922

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The Army-Navy football game series moved to Franklin Field in 1899. Today, the stadium seats 52,593.

Related Topics:
Army-Navy football game - 1899

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Franklin Field was also the home of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1958 until 1970. The Eagles hosted the 1960 NFL Championship Game at Franklin Field, defeating the Green Bay Packers, 17-13, in Packers coach Vince Lombardi's only career championship loss.

Related Topics:
Philadelphia Eagles - 1958 - 1970 - 1960 - NFL Championship Game - Green Bay Packers - Vince Lombardi

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Some infamous incidents occurred at the stadium during the Eagles' tenure there. In a December 1968 game against the Minnesota Vikings, Eagles fans booed a young man dressed as Santa Claus and pelted him with snowballs during the halftime show. In 1970, play-by-play announcer Howard Cosell was apparently drunk as he broadcast the nationally televised Eagles-Giants Monday Night Football game. After eventually throwing up on fellow announcer Don Meredith's celebrated cowboy boots, Cosell left the stadium midway through the game. Denying drunkenness, he later claimed among other things that his dizziness resulted from running laps around the famous Franklin Field track before the game with track star Tommie Smith.

Related Topics:
Eagles' - December - 1968 - Minnesota Vikings - Santa Claus - 1970 - Howard Cosell - Giants - Monday Night Football - Don Meredith - Tommie Smith

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From the 1990s until 2002, to accomodate the Eagles and Philadelphia Phillies major league teams whose regular seasons at Veterans Stadium overlapped by over a month, the Temple University football team moved its August and September home games to Franklin Field, playing out the remainder of those seasons back at the Vet.

Related Topics:
1990s - 2002 - Eagles - Philadelphia Phillies - Veterans Stadium - Temple University football team - August - September

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Franklin Field has hosted the historic Penn Relays for over 100 years.

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The stadium was the site of a speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during which he accepted the 1936 Democratic Presidential momination for a second term.

Related Topics:
Franklin D. Roosevelt - 1936 - Democratic

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