Facts About Soldier Field

Soldier Field is a 61,500-seat stadium located in Chicago, Illinois, at 1410 South Museum Drive. The stadium is the home of the National Football League's Chicago Bears and has played host in the past to the now-defunct College All-Star Game and numerous professional sports franchises in both soccer and football. Built in the early 1920s, it opened on October 9th, 1924, as Municipal Grant Park Stadium and had its name changed to Soldier Field the next year, in honor of all the fallen soldiers that had died in American wars.

  1. Capacity

    • Soldier Field had its formal dedication on November 27th, 1927, during the football contest between Army and Navy. At one time, the stadium could seat as many as 74,000 spectators with room for 30,000 more on bleachers erected in the infield. The Bears first started to use the place as their permanent home field in 1971 and have remained there ever since. The capacity was trimmed to about 57,000 so as to allow spectators a better view of the field. In 2003, Soldier Field underwent another major remake and the capacity went to its current 61,500, with the major holdover architecturally from its past being the Greek columns that were the stadium's trademark.

    NFC Title Games

    • There have been 3 National Football Conference championship games staged at Soldier Field. The 1985 Bears shut out the Los Angeles Rams 24 to 0 to advance to their 1st Super Bowl. In 1988, the San Francisco 49ers came to Chicago and walloped the Bears in the title contest by a 28 to 3 score. In 2006, the Bears were able to defeat the New Orleans Saints by 39 to 14 at Soldier Field to once again head to the Super Bowl.

    Dempsey-Tunney

    • One of professional boxing's greatest bouts took place at Soldier Field in front of more than 104,000 fans on September 23rd, 1927. Gene Tunney met Jack Dempsey in a heavyweight match for the title. The fight is famous for what became known as the "long count" when Dempsey knocked Tunney down but dallied going to a neutral corner, allowing Tunney to have more than the allotted 10 seconds to recover. Tunney came back to win the fight.

    College All-Star Game

    • In 1934, a "Chicago Tribune" editor named Arch Ward came up with the concept of a team of collegiate All-Stars taking on the reigning professional football champions in Chicago. The game was held most of the time at Soldier Field and went on every year between 1934 and 1976 with the exception of 1974. The game was finally scrapped as the idea of future pros being injured in an exhibition made it too risky to play any longer. The NFL teams dominated the series as one would expect; they won 31 and lost just 9 with a pair of ties. In its early years, the game frequently drew more than 90,000 football fans to the venue.

    Other Events

    • In 1929, Notre Dame met Southern California in a college football game at Soldier Field, a contest which set the official all-time attendance mark for the sport with more than 112,000 paying customers counted.
      In 1968, the International Special Olympics were held at Soldier Field, the first Special Olympics held on a worldwide basis. Other events held at the stadium include a NASCAR race in 1956 on a track that was finally removed in 1970.
      Concerts that featured such musicians as The Grateful Dead and Bruce Springsteen have taken place at Soldier Field.