Стадион «The Swamp»: Дом футбольной команды «Флорида Гейторс»

American college football stadium of the University of Florida

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (in full Steve Spurrier Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium), popularly known as "The Swamp", is a football stadium on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville and the home field of the Florida Gators football team. It was originally known as Florida Field when it opened as a 22,000 seat facility in 1930, and it has been expanded and renovated many times over the ensuing decades. Most of the university's athletic administrative offices, along with most football related offices and training areas, have been located in the stadium since the 1960s. Most of the football program's facilities are slated to move to a nearby $60 million building that began construction in 2020. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is the largest stadium in Florida, the 12th largest stadium in the United States, and the 18th largest stadium in the world, as measured by its official seating capacity of 88,548 – though, it has often held over 90,000 for Florida's home football games.

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is located on the northern edge of the University of Florida's Gainesville campus. The stadium and its approach are bordered by West University Avenue to the north, Gale Lemerand Drive to the west, and Stadium Road to the south. To the east is the University of Florida Campus Historic District, which is the oldest portion of the campus and includes the Murphree Area student residence complex, the Florida Gymnasium, and Ustler Hall. Just west of the stadium across Gale Lemerand Drive is the Stephen C. O'Connell Center, which is the home arena for the Florida Gators men's basketball, women's basketball, gymnastics, volleyball, and swimming and diving teams. Beside the O'Connell Center are several football practice fields, an indoor football practice facility, and a football training and administrative building that opened in 2022.

The name of the facility was simply "Florida Field" from its opening in 1930 until 1989, when the university renamed the stadium in honor of citrus magnate Ben Hill Griffin, Jr., an alumnus and major benefactor of the university and its sports programs. However, the playing surface remained "Florida Field", and the facility's full name was "Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field" from 1990 until 2016. On September 3, 2016, the playing surface was renamed in honor of former Florida quarterback and head coach Steve Spurrier. As UF athletic director Jeremy Foley explained, "Coach Spurrier did more than win a Heisman Trophy, a national championship, and a bunch of games. Coach Spurrier changed the culture of Florida Athletics." The facility may be best known as simply "The Swamp", a nickname which was coined by Spurrier in 1992. As he explained at the time, "A swamp is where Gators live. We feel comfortable there, but we hope our opponents feel tentative. A swamp is hot and sticky and can be dangerous. We feel like it's an appropriate nickname for our stadium." Both the "Swamp" nickname and the "only Gators get out alive" tagline added later by UF's sports marketing department quickly became popular and have been commonly used ever since.

From the establishment of the University of Florida in Gainesville in 1906 until the 1910–1911 academic year, the school's intercollegiate football team and club level baseball team played and practiced at Gainesville's municipal athletic park known The Ballpark or as "The Baseball Park". The university began developing its first on campus sports field in 1910, when it purchased and cleared open land just west of the campus. Wooden bleachers were installed and a football gridiron and baseball diamond were laid out by the end of the year, and University Athletic Field made its debut in January 1911 when the Florida Gators baseball team opened the season at the new facility. Florida's football team began play there in 1911, which was also the year that they began using the "Gators" nickname. Larger bleachers were installed in 1915, when the facility was rechristened "Fleming Field" in honor of recently deceased former Florida governor Francis P. Fleming.

Florida's football program first earned national prominence in the 1920s, prompting incoming university president John J. Tigert to begin a drive to construct a proper on campus stadium upon his arrival in 1928. With state funding unavailable at the cusp of the Great Depression, the semi independent University of Florida Athletic Association was organized to raise funds and oversee the project, and Tigert and ten supporters of Florida's athletic program took out personal loans to expedite construction of the $118,000, 22,000 seat football stadium. Construction began on April 16, 1930, and soon faced serious engineering and geotechnical obstacles related to natural groundwater and drainage. The chosen site was a shallow ravine, with approximately 30 rows of the current seating area below the level of the surrounding land. During preliminary excavation and leveling work, water from a previously unknown underground stream began to pour into the construction site from the north, miring the future playing surface in mud. The problem was resolved with the installation of massive underground culverts that diverted the stream to Graham Pond two blocks south of the stadium site, and ultimately, to Lake Alice in the then undeveloped southern side of the UF campus. In 1934, Florida Field was dedicated to the memory of Florida servicemen who died in World War I, and a memorial plaque to that effect was installed on the outside wall behind the north end zone.

Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin and other athletic officials have discussed "upgrading the overall quality of the fan experience" at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. This would include better technology for fans and the addition of more luxury areas and chair back seating at the expense of reducing overall stadium capacity by several thousand. The university has not set a timeline for the work, but Stricklin has said that he expects the project to be completed in phases by around 2025. As part of these improvements, hundreds of small Wi Fi routers were installed under stadium benches in 2019 to improve fans' internet connectivity during games.

The playing surface of Florida Field has also changed over the years. It was natural grass until 1971, when Astroturf was installed and nicknamed "Doug's Rug" for then coach Doug Dickey. The original artificial surface was replaced with an updated version in 1980, and it remained until 1990, when newly hired coach Steve Spurrier insisted it be removed and replaced with natural grass to help prevent player injury. In June 2012, the playing surface was completely removed down to the substrate to install an improved drainage system and in ground sensors to measure moisture levels and temperature. Since that work was completed, the turf on Florida Field has been a Bermuda grass hybrid developed by UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences to better resist drought, disease, and damage. The field is usually overseeded with rye grass late in the football season to compensate for wear and tear. In years past, Florida would occasionally schedule a home game in Jacksonville, Tampa, or (less frequently) Miami and Orlando. But besides the annual meeting with Georgia, the Gators have not played a regular season home contest anywhere besides Florida Field since September 1980, when they defeated the California Golden Bears in old Tampa Stadium. Not coincidentally, this game was played the season prior to Florida Field's south endzone expansion, which made it the largest football stadium in Florida.

The Swamp has acquired a reputation for being a difficult place for opposing teams to play, and has regularly been ranked at or near the top of lists of top home field advantages and/or best game day experiences in college football. One of the major reasons is the stadium's design. Originally built in a shallow sinkhole, the playing surface is below ground level. Expansions have enclosed the playing area on all sides with steep stands, and the fans are within a few feet of the action. This traps crowd noise inside the stadium, which results in sound levels on the field which have been measured at 115 decibels—just short of the threshold of pain. The enclosed playing area also enhances the effects of Gainesville's warm and humid fall climate. Game day temperatures at field level have been known to exceed 100 °F (37 °C), creating a swamp like atmosphere. (This was the impetus for a University of Florida researcher, Robert Cade, to develop Gatorade as a way to combat dehydration.) Furthermore, during hot and sunny day games, Florida's sideline (on the stadium's west side) is in the shade provided by the press box, while the visiting team's sideline (on the stadium's east side) is exposed to the sun. Florida fans are loyal (having sold out every home contest from 1979 until 2011) and loud, thus creating a tremendous home field advantage for the Gators. On November 30, 2019, in a game vs. Florida State, the decibel level in the swamp exceeded that of Lumen Field, home of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, which is among the loudest in the NFL. Combined, these factors create an intimidating environment which can rattle and disrupt opposing teams, making it difficult to hear playcalls and execute assignments. Florida Field has been repeatedly ranked by various publications as being the toughest stadium in which to play for opposing teams. Florida's performance at home illustrates this effect. In a 20 year span beginning in 1990 (when the north endzone expansion was completed), Florida posted a 113–13 overall home record, which was the best in the nation during that period. They were particularly dominant under Coach Steve Spurrier. They went undefeated at home from the time Spurrier arrived in 1990 until 1994, and lost only three SEC home games during Spurrier's 12 years in Gainesville.

Rank Date Attendance Opponent Florida result 1 November 28, 2015 90,916 No. 14 Florida State L, 2–27 2 November 28, 2009 90,907 Florida State W, 37–10 3 September 19, 2009 90,894 Tennessee W, 23–13 4 October 1, 2011 90,888 No. 3 Alabama L, 10–38 5 September 18, 2021 90,887 No. 1 Alabama L, 31–29 6 November 13, 2010 90,885 No. 22 South Carolina L, 14–36 7 September 6, 2008 90,833 Miami W, 26–3 7 October 20, 2012 90,833 No. 9 South Carolina W, 44–11 9 October 6, 2012 90,824 No. 4 LSU W, 14–6 10 September 3, 2022 90,799 No. 7 Utah W, 29–26 11 November 26, 2011 90,798 Florida State L, 7–21 12 September 16, 2023 90,751 No. 11 Tennessee W, 29–16 13 September 17, 2011 90,744 Tennessee W, 33–23 14 October 9, 2010 90,721 No. 12 LSU L, 29–33 15 September 17, 2005 90,716 No. 5 Tennessee W, 16–7

For 82 years, Florida Field was the home of Gator Growl, a student produced show and pep rally held the Friday night before the annual homecoming football game that was long billed as the largest student run pep rally in the world, Originally a simple affair, Gator Growl grew over the years and became a major event by the 1970s. The typical program included the introduction of senior football players by the head coach, live student skits, video skits (often with celebrity cameo appearances), a major musical act, and a headlining comedian. During the event's heyday, headliners included Robin Williams, Dennis Miller, Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, Bill Cosby, Billy Crystal, Dane Cook, Paula Poundstone, Wayne Brady, Rodney Dangerfield, George Burns, Bob Hope, and Sister Hazel. However, a combination of high ticket prices and controversial comedic acts caused Gator Growl to fade in popularity among current students and alumni alike, and it was last held in The Swamp in 2013. Since then, it has been held at the nearby Flavet Field bandshell while trying to cater more to current students.

Steve Spurrier Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium has hosted the Florida high school football championships on many occasions, which title games for different divisions played over one weekend.

Florida Field has twice served as a temporary home for college bowl games when other Florida stadiums were undergoing renovations. In 1973, Florida Field hosted the Tangerine Bowl, which pitted the hometown Gators against the Miami Redskins while Orlando's Citrus Bowl was being rebuilt. The 1994 Gator Bowl between the Virginia Tech Hokies and Tennessee Volunteers was held in the Swamp while Jacksonville Municipal Stadium was being rebuilt for the National Football League's expansion Jacksonville Jaguars.

Florida Field was once a busy concert venue, with artists such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Elton John, The Eagles, and Jimmy Buffett among the performers who played at the stadium. However, since Florida Field's last major expansion in 1990, the university has sharply limited the number of shows at the football stadium due to concerns over damage to the turf or the facility. So while the O'Connell Center next door has become a busy concert venue, there have only been two non Gator Growl concerts in Florida Field since 1990: The Rolling Stones on November 27, 1994, as part of their Voodoo Lounge Tour; and Garth Brooks on April 20, 2019, during his Stadium Tour.