Artificial turf was first installed in 1970 and in 2000, the stadium became one of the first in the U.S. to utilize FieldTurf, a grass-like synthetic surface.
 
Prior to the 2013 season, UBU Sports’ Speed Series S5-M synthetic turf system was installed as the playing surface at Nippert. The stadium’s field orientation was shifted slightly north and west to even out the sideline areas and add a run-off area around the south end zone.
 
UC added extensive fan experience enhancements to game days at Nippert Stadium starting with the 2019 football season, including: additional tailgating options, sponsored social-gathering spaces, new concessions items, fans-first pricing concessions stand and a season-long DJ for in-game entertainment
 
The stadium served as home for the Cincinnati Bengals, in 1968 and 1969, while their original permanent home at Riverfront Stadium was being constructed. It was the home field for FC Cincinnati, a professional soccer team in Major League Soccer, from 2016 to 2020.
 
The playing surface was widened and a new perimeter wall was constructed following the 2016 season, giving Nippert the ability to play host to international friendly matches on a FIFA regulation field.
 
Nippert has also served as a venue for concerts by Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, NSYNC, Janet Jackson, KT Tunstall, The North Mississippi All-Stars, The Roots, the Cincinnati Opera Company and many more.
 
Two US Presidents have spoken at the stadium. On Oct. 16, 1936, President Franklin Roosevelt, running for a second term, appeared at Nippert Stadium and spoke from an open car in the rain to a crowd estimated at 15,000 and on Nov. 2, 2008, President Barack Obama held a campaign rally at Nippert two days before the 2008 Presidential Election to an estimated 27,000 attendees.
 
USA Today named Nippert as the best home-field venue in the former BIG EAST Conference and ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt cited Nippert as a “one of the gems of college football’.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING

  • The reopening of Nippert Stadium coincided with the 100th anniversary of the 1915 original construction of the facility. Construction was completed in 1924.
  • UC has used the Nippert site as a playing field since 1901, making it the second-oldest playing site in the nation for college football behind Penn's Franklin Field (1895).
  • Among NCAA FBS schools, Nippert is the third-oldest stadium still in use, behind Bobby Dodd Stadium (Georgia Tech - 1913), Davis Wade Stadium (Mississippi State - 1914) and ahead of Ole Miss' Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (1915) and Wisconsin's Camp Randall Stadium (1917).

    WHAT'S IN A NAME?
  • During the season-ending clash with rival Miami (Ohio) in 1923, Jimmy Nippert sustained a spike wound injury and died a month later from blood poisoning. His grandfather, James N. Gamble of Procter and Gamble, provided the funds needed to complete the horseshoe-shaped structure, and the James Gamble Nippert Memorial Stadium was dedicated on Nov. 8, 1924.
  • The stadium's founder was Arch Carson, who as captain and principal organizer played a significant role in starting football on the UC campus in 1885. In 1901 as physical director of the university, Carson guided the construction of the field which was later named for him -- the playing surface is still called Carson Field.

    ESPN COLLEGE GAMEDAY COMES TO UC IN 2021
  • "The best atmosphere this year (2021) for College Gameday was at Cincinnati. Man, they were so fired up. They were fired up for their team. They were fired up for the validation that having Gameday come to campus brings, and they were absolutely electric. I mean there were thousands of people for as far as you could see back on the main quad area on campus at UC not far from Nippert Stadium... Cincinnati was a great, great stop this year."
  • Thousands of Cincinnati fans attended ESPN College GameDay Built by The Home Depot on Nov. 6, 2021. The three-hour college football pregame show aired live from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. from "The Commons" in front of Tangeman University Center adjacent to MainStreet at the center of the University of Cincinnati's West Campus. College GameDay's first-ever visit to Cincinnati registered 1,826,000 viewers, tops among Saturday morning college football pregame shows with 2,376,000 viewers in the final hour in what was essentially a three-hour commercial for the University of Cincinnati and the football program. The weekend also served as UC's homecoming and Cincinnati defeated Tulsa, 28-20, at Nippert Stadium that night.

    TOP-10 CROWDS AT NIPPERT STADIUM
ATT OPPONENT DATE RESULT
40,140 UConn 10/24/15 W, 37-13 *
40,121 UCF 10/04/19 W, 27-24 *
40,101 Miami (Fla.) 10/01/15 W, 34-23 *
40,015 Houston 09/15/16 L, 40-16 *
39,095 Alabama A&M 09/05/15 W, 52-10
38,919 UConn 11/09/19 W, 48-3
38,464 Indiana  09/24/22 W, 45-24 *
38,112 Miami (OH) 09/24/16 W, 27-20
38,112 Temple 09/12/15 L, 34-26
38,088 Kennesaw State 09/10/22 W, 63-10 *

 *-Sellouts