Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium

Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium
Construction

Former names	Memphis Memorial Stadium (1965–1976)
Location	335 South Hollywood Street Memphis, Tennessee 38104
Coordinates	35°7′16″N 89°58′39″W / 35.12111°N 89.97750°W / 35.12111; -89.97750Coordinates: 35°7′16″N 89°58′39″W / 35.12111°N 89.97750°W / 35.12111; -89.97750
Owner	City of Memphis
Operator	Memphis Park Commission
Capacity	59,308 (2013–present) 61,008 (2007–2012) 62,338 (2003–2006) 62,921 (1999–2002) 62,380 (1987–1998) 50,160 (1965–1986)^[1]^[2]
Surface	FieldTurf 2005-2011 Grass 1965-2004 AstroTurf (end zones only 1995 for CFL games; entire field 2012–present)
Broke ground	1963
Opened	September 16, 1965
Expanded	1987
Construction cost	$3.7 million (original) ($27.8 million in 2016 dollars^[3]) $19.5 million (1987 renovations) ($40.7 million in 2016 dollars^[3])
Architect	Yeates, Gaskill & Rhodes^[4] Bounds & Gillespie Architects (renovations)
Tenants
Memphis Tigers (NCAA) (1965–present) AutoZone Liberty Bowl (NCAA) (1965–present) Tennessee Oilers (NFL) (1997) Memphis Mad Dogs (CFL) (1995) Memphis Maniax (XFL) (2001) Memphis Showboats (USFL) (1984–1985) Memphis Southmen (WFL) (1974–1975) Memphis Rogues (NASL) (1978–1980)

Liberty Stadium Entrance

Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, originally Memphis Memorial Stadium, is a football stadium located at the former Mid-South Fairgrounds in the Midtown area of Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The stadium is the site of the annual AutoZone Liberty Bowl, and is the home field of the University of Memphis Tigers football team. It has also been the host of several attempts at professional sports in the city, as well as other local football games and other gatherings.

History

The stadium was originally built as Memphis Memorial Stadium in 1965 for $3 million, as a part of the Mid-South Fairgrounds, then home to one of the South's most popular fairs, but now conducted in neighboring Desoto County, Mississippi. The fairgrounds also included the now-defunct Mid-South Coliseum (formerly the city's major indoor venue) as well as the now-closed Libertyland amusement park. It was dedicated as a memorial to the citizens of Memphis who had served in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.

The facility was built partially as a way to bring the Liberty Bowl to a permanent home in Memphis (the game had started in Philadelphia, but because of poor attendance as a northern bowl, it left the city, playing one year in Atlantic City before settling in Memphis). The game was such a success for Memphis that the stadium was renamed Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in 1976. As originally built, the stadium was lopsided, with the southwest side being taller than the northeast side. A 1987 expansion brought it to its current, balanced configuration, although with a much greater hospitality building topping the northeast section.^[5] Its design is similar to that of old Tampa Stadium ("The Big Sombrero"), with the endzone grandstands being much shorter than the sidelines. The field, which had been natural grass since its inception, was replaced with a FieldTurf surface before the 2005 season; this was subsequently replaced with the modern version of AstroTurf.

The stadium is designed in such a way that all of its seats have a relatively good view of most of the playing surface. This is due primarily to two design factors. The stands are relatively steep for a one-tier, true bowl stadium. Also, there is little space between the side and end lines of the playing surface and the stands.

In December 1983, the playing field was renamed Rex Dockery Field in honor of Rex Dockery, a former Memphis Tigers football coach who died in a plane crash.

The stadium played host to The Monsters of Rock Festival Tour, featuring Van Halen, Scorpions, Dokken, Metallica, and Kingdom Come, on July 9, 1988.

Tenants

Major tenants

Since its opening, the stadium has hosted the Memphis Tigers football team from the University of Memphis. Before this, the team had spent 28 seasons at Crump Stadium. It was not the first time the team had played at the fairgrounds; before playing at Crump, the team had played two seasons there at a former park.^[6] As of the start of the 2006 season, the team has a 130-106-7 record at the stadium.

Also since its opening, the stadium has hosted the Liberty Bowl game. It has usually hosted a Southern team playing against an at-large team (usually a team from either the Big 12 or the Southeastern Conference, but occasionally another Southern team). Since 1997, the game has been hosted by the champion of Conference USA, of which the Tigers were a member until 2012. From 1998 to 2003, the opponent was the champion of the Mountain West Conference. This arrangement was ended, however, partially because in the last two years of the agreement, the Mountain West Champion declined to play in the game. The University of Utah turned down the 2004 bid to accept a bid to the BCS and the Fiesta Bowl. The winner of the Western Athletic Conference, Boise State, took the bid instead. In 2005, Fresno State took the bid as an at-large team after Mountain West Champion TCU instead chose to play in the Houston Bowl.

Since 2006, the second bid has gone to a team from the SEC, setting up an all-Southern bowl game. As of 2010, the SEC has the right to override the Conference USA champion and instead replace them with an opponent from the Big East Conference, now the American Athletic Conference. At the same time, the PapaJohns.com Bowl was given the option of a Conference USA team instead of a Big East team.^[7] They chose not to do this for the first year of this arrangement, allowing C-USA champions UCF to play Georgia.

The stadium is also the host of the "Southern Heritage Classic", a game between two historically black schools, Jackson State University and Tennessee State University. The stadium also has hosted home games of the Tennessee Vols, Ole Miss Rebels, and Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Panorama of Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, Memphis, Tennessee, Oct 2015

Early professional football

In 1974 and 1975, the stadium hosted the Memphis Southmen, aka "Grizzlies", of the World Football League. The Southmen drew fairly well, at least by WFL standards, in part due to the presence on their roster of some well-known players recruited away from the NFL at considerable expense. By nearly all accounts, they would have been a viable venture had the WFL been better run. Much, perhaps too much, was read into this relative success at the gate.

When the WFL folded, the team formally changed its name to the Grizzlies and made a bid to join the NFL as an expansion team for the 1976 NFL season, with a telethon even being staged for this purpose. Over 40,000 people bought season tickets for the would-be NFL team. Despite this seemingly overwhelming show of support, the NFL ignored Memphis' pleas and the Southmen folded. Owner John Bassett filed a lawsuit against the league, but was unsuccessful.

In 1984, the United States Football League added the Memphis Showboats as an expansion team. The Showboats, featuring defensive end Reggie White and coached by flamboyant Memphian Pepper Rodgers, were one of the better draws in the league. They advanced to the semifinals in 1985. Much like the Southmen before them, it was generally believed the Showboats would have been a viable venture had their league been better organized.

However, this attempt caused the city of Memphis to decide on expanding the stadium, in the hopes of luring an NFL franchise to the city. To this end, the Liberty Bowl underwent a $12 million facelift. The east stands were built up to the same level as the west ones, adding about 12,000 seats, and a "skybox" of luxury suites was added to the top of those stands. After the renovation, the then-St. Louis Cardinals played an exhibition game there before a sellout crowd.

Despite its efforts, the city was unsuccessful in luring an NFL team (which would have been called the "Memphis Hound Dogs") to the Liberty Bowl.

Mad Dogs

Not willing to give up on pro football, in 1995 the Liberty Bowl welcomed the Memphis Mad Dogs as part of the Canadian Football League's attempt at bringing their league into American markets.

Due to the design features noted earlier, it was extremely difficult to shoehorn a Canadian football field onto the Liberty Bowl's playing surface. Canadian fields are 10 yards longer and 35 feet wider than in the U.S. version, and the end zones are 20 yards deep rather than 10; few U.S. football stadiums are designed readily to accommodate a playing surface of this size. Had the attempt to play the Canadian game included an attempt to use the full width of that game's field, players not participating in the game and the coaching staffs would have to have been seated in the stands. Likewise, 20 yards past the goal line at the Liberty Bowl puts one several rows up into the end zone stands. AstroTurf sections were added around the grass field to accommodate the required width, while the end zones became half AstroTurf/half grass pentagons in order to bring the field to the required length. However, the end zones were nowhere near regulation; they averaged around 9 yards in length, and no other American stadium had end zones shorter than 15 yards. The stands jutted into the corners of the end zones, creating a distinct safety hazard. The only real concession to the Canadian format that was feasible at the Liberty Bowl was the moving of the goal posts to the goal line, where they are in the Canadian game, as opposed to the end line. The result was what amounted to a hybrid game, played by Canadian rules on essentially a U.S. field.

Despite these limitations, the Mad Dogs, coached by Rodgers, drew fairly well during the early part of the season. However, they were tripped up by quirks in the CFL schedule. The CFL season runs from July–November so as to conclude before the harsh Canadian winters set in and make conditions unbearable for players, coaches, officials, and especially spectators. Its games were generally scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights—the same nights on which high school and college football games are played in the United States. The Mad Dogs knew that once college football season started, most fans preferred to drive across Interstate 40 to watch Tennessee football or down Interstate 55 to watch Ole Miss. (The Birmingham Barracudas CFL franchise faced similar problems due to competition from Alabama and Auburn.) With this in mind, the CFL moved the Mad Dogs and Barracudas' late season home games to Sunday afternoons, but this put them in direct competition with television broadcasts of the far more popular NFL. However, even with these changes, the Liberty Bowl became a virtual ghost town late in the season, with several crowds well below 10,000. It soon became apparent that the Mad Dogs were not a viable venture. Although they finished one game out of the playoffs, their dreadful attendance figures caused them to fold at the end of the season.

Oilers

The city finally lured an NFL team to the stadium in 1997, when the Houston Oilers announced that they would play two seasons in Memphis as the Tennessee Oilers before the Adelphia Colisseum, their new stadium in Nashville (now Nissan Stadium), was completed in time for the 1999 season. The largest stadium in Nashville at the time, Vanderbilt Stadium, then seated only 41,000 fans—too few even for temporary use. Vanderbilt University was also unwilling to let beer be sold at games. Although the Vols' Neyland Stadium in Knoxville was slightly closer to Nashville, it was deemed too big (at over 102,000 seats) for an NFL team. Pepper Rodgers was named the Oilers' "Director of Memphis Operations." The team was to live and practice in Nashville, commuting to Memphis only for games.

Although the idea seemed acceptable enough to the league and the team at the time, the 1997 season was an unmitigated disaster for all involved. The Oilers played before some of the smallest home crowds seen in the NFL since the 1950s for most games, and the visiting teams often seemed to have more supporters than the Oilers. Many Memphians wanted nothing to do with a team which would be lost in two years—especially to longtime rival Nashville. For their part, Nashvillians were skittish about having to drive 210 miles to see "their" team play. In an unfortunate coincidence, Interstate 40 was undergoing extensive repairs just east of Memphis at the time. This lengthened the normal three-and-a-half hour drive from Nashville to Memphis to five hours or longer. Even though none of the Oilers' first seven games attracted more than 27,000 people, Oilers' owner Bud Adams was initially willing to stick it out in Memphis for one more season. However, that changed with the only game that drew more fans than could have comfortably been accommodated at Vanderbilt, the year's final game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. While 50,677 people showed up, the great majority of them (three-fourths of the crowd, by one estimate) were Steeler fans.^[8] Adams was so disgusted that he ripped up the Memphis agreement a year early in favor of playing at Vanderbilt in 1998.

Maniax

The stadium's last major professional tenant to date was the Memphis Maniax of the XFL. They finished tied for second place at 5-5 with the Demons, but did not make the playoffs. The league folded after one season.

Other former tenants

From 1978 to 1980, the Memphis Rogues of the North American Soccer League called the stadium home. The playing surface is somewhat smaller than that generally favored by soccer, but that sport adapts to smaller playing surfaces better than some others (the preferred width of a soccer pitch is 70 to 80 yards, but the rules allow for a pitch as narrow as 50 yards wide). Like the Southmen, the Rogues seemingly did fairly well in a league that wasn't doing all that well as a whole. Despite their success, the team moved to Calgary, although this move was due more to the owner, Nelson Skalbania, a Canadian businessman, wanting to move the team to his home country.

One of the more interesting events held in the stadium was an exhibition Major League Baseball game involving the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers during the 1975 season. The game was sponsored by the Memphis Blues minor league team. The right-field fence was only 174 feet from home plate, about 125 feet shorter than the dimensions of most major league parks.

Future

As of 2016, it is considered highly unlikely that there will be a permanent NFL franchise in the stadium or in the city. The stadium is more than adequate for the Tigers, a team which is currently playing in one of the larger stadiums in its new conference, the American Athletic Conference. The AutoZone Liberty Bowl game is well-attended and averages crowds just under the stadium's maximum capacity. There are a variety of factors that play into the city's prospects, including:

Memphis, although it is the largest city in the state, is now considered to be in the Titans’ market under the current television agreements in the NFL. Also, while Memphis is the 18th-largest city in the United States, it has always been only a medium-sized television market (currently 44th), as the surrounding metropolitan area is not much bigger than the city proper. Its per capita income is far less than is customary for a market that is usually under consideration for expansion or relocation of an existing team.
The league itself is not in the position to be considering expansion at this time, in part due to there being a balanced schedule which works well in place. in place. In addition, the city is located within 500 miles of six current teams: the Titans, New Orleans Saints, Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons, Kansas City Chiefs, and Indianapolis Colts.
The city, county and state have already pumped a large amount of capital into several other structures in the city. The Pyramid was completed in 1991 and has already been replaced. FedExForum, which replaced The Pyramid, and AutoZone Park were both completed in the first five years of the 2000s, and neither structure has yet to pay off any funds spent on its construction. Each of these venues cost several times more than has ever been spent on the Liberty Bowl.
Finally, the stadium itself is considered obsolete by current NFL standards. It does not have many luxury boxes, and it does have a large number of backless bench seats, both of which are substantial drawbacks. Restroom facilities and concession stands seem relatively antiquated compared to those of newer facilities. The facility itself generally shows the five decades of use and Mid-South weather that it has endured. Perhaps the greatest hindrance is the one thing about its design that originally had made it so attractive to many. The single-deck, open bowl design precludes the construction of true "club seats", the luxury seats located between the main lower and upper decks of most modern football stadiums which are a major source of additional revenues to ownership. Due to the factors listed above, it is highly unlikely that a major upgrade could be performed on the stadium; it would almost be certainly more practicable to replace it with an entirely new structure.

On January 1, 2007, then-Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton proposed a new stadium be built in place of the old one. Some in the University of Memphis community prefer the construction of a smaller, on-campus stadium, but such a venue would almost certainly be inadequate for the Liberty Bowl. Although this proposal did not move ahead, the long-term future of Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium is currently unclear. However, it is thought that a separate on-campus stadium for the Tigers would be fiscally unrealistic if a new municipal stadium were to be built in addition to it.

Legacy

Both the Liberty Bowl and the stadium bearing its name have been integral parts of the Memphis community for over five decades, and it can be argued that, unlike the cases of massive amounts that have been spent on many luxurious sports venues for professional sports teams in other cities in recent years, the citizens of Memphis have received a reasonable return on the capital invested in the stadium in the economic activity resulting from all of the events that the stadium has hosted over the years.

The failure of the Liberty Bowl to become the long-term host of a successful professional football team has been more a result of the poorly planned and executed sports leagues that have attempted to operate teams there than any inherent fault in the stadium, which was superior to many hosting major sports teams at the time of its construction, or the Memphis market.

The stadium, despite all its faults, must be deemed to have been largely successful. It has provided the University of Memphis football team with a more-than-suitable home, and the City of Memphis a venue for other large events and an annual attraction that may not be in the top echelon of collegiate sports but nonetheless provides crowds at Memphis hotels and restaurants annually at a time when they would ordinarily be lacking, the last week in December. The Southern Heritage Classic, usually played near the beginning of the football season in September, has become one of the premier events in black collegiate sports and always brings a large crowd (sometimes 60,000 or more). Additionally, the Liberty Bowl game has seen some of its best days since playing host to the champion of Conference USA beginning in 1997. The 2007 Liberty Bowl set an all-time attendance record for the Liberty Bowl Game as 63,816 fans packed the stadium to watch Mississippi State University defeat the University of Central Florida.

The all-time Liberty Bowl Stadium attendance record was set in 1990 when 66,000+ watched Ole Miss square off against rival Tennessee in a regular season battle that proved to be for the outright SEC Championship for that season with the Volunteers prevailing 22-13.^[9]

Recent renovations

In 2011, the Liberty Bowl received some major upgrades such as new lighting, two new video boards, one of which is a Jumbotron, new elevators, new turf, new paint and renovations to the luxury boxes.

In popular culture

In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Band Geeks", the band led by Squidward Tentacles plays at the "Bubble Bowl", during which clips of a Memphis Showboats game (played at the Liberty Bowl) are shown.

References

↑ Bailey, Jr., Thomas (April 8, 2013). "Memphis Gets Building Permit for Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Upgrades". The Commercial Appeal. Memphis. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
↑ "2013 Memphis Football Media Guide". Memphis Athletics. p. 3. Retrieved August 7, 2014.
1 2 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Community Development Project. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
↑ http://www.emporis.com/building/libertybowl-memphis-tn-usa
↑ http://stadiumdb.com/stadiums/usa/liberty_bowl_stadium
↑ Jennifer Rodrigues, ed. The 2006 University of Memphis Football Media Guide. Birmingham, Ala.: EBSCO Media, 2006, p. 184.
↑ http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/04/28/456893/big-east-gets-liberty-bowl-option.html
↑ Bouchette, Dan (November 29, 2001). "Steelers-Oilers/Titans Rivalry Plays Its Final Act in Pittsburgh Under the Monday Night Spotlight". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ8N4jskmZs

External links

Events and tenants
Preceded by Crump Stadium	Home of the Memphis Tigers 1965 – present	Succeeded by Current
Preceded by Convention Hall	Home of the Liberty Bowl 1965 – present	Succeeded by Current
Preceded by Astrodome	Home of the Tennessee Oilers 1997	Succeeded by Vanderbilt Stadium

The University of Memphis

Academics	University of Memphis University of Memphis, School of Law FedEx Institute of Technology Advanced Distributed Learning Workforce Co-Lab

Athletics	Memphis Tigers Men's Basketball Women's Basketball Football University of Memphis Stadium List of Memphis athletes FedEx Park Baseball Field, University of Memphis Mike Rose Soccer Complex University of Memphis Tennis Complex Elma Roane Fieldhouse

Journals	Southern Journal of Philosophy University of Memphis Law Review

Life	The Daily Helmsman Mighty Sound of the South FedEx Forum Art Museum at the University of Memphis WUMR TOM II TOM III Memphis Pom

Memphis Tigers football

Venues	Crump Stadium (1934–64) Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium (1965–present)

Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Arkansas State: Paint Bucket Bowl Louisville Ole Miss Southern Miss: Black and Blue Bowl

Culture & lore	Pouncer TOM (mascot) "Go Tigers Go" Mighty Sound of the South Miami Beach Brawl

People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders

Seasons	1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1922 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

City of Memphis and Memphis metropolitan area (counties in TN, MS and AR)

Topics

Districts

Neighborhoods

Metro area
landmarks

Tennessee	A. Schwab's Art Museum of the University of Memphis AutoZone Stadium Bartlett Museum Beale Street Bellevue Baptist Church Belz Museum Botanic Garden Brooks Museum Burkle Estate Central Station Chickasaw Bluff Children's Museum Chucalissa Museum Cotton Museum Davies Manor Dixon Gallery and Gardens Downtown Trolleys Elmwood Cemetery FedExForum Fire Museum Fort Assumption Fort Wright Graceland Hernando de Soto Bridge Liberty Bowl Stadium Libertyland Lichterman Nature Center Lincoln American Tower Magevney House Mallory-Neely House Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park Memorial Park Cemetery Cotton Exchange Memphis International Airport Motorsports Park National Cemetery Parkway System Railroad & Trolley Museum Memphis Zoo Mississippi River Mississippi River Park Mud Island Monorail National Civil Rights Museum National Ornamental Metal Museum Oaklawn Garden Orpheum Theatre Overton Park Peabody Hotel Pink Palace The Pyramid Rhodes College Rock N' Soul Museum St. Jude Children's Research Hospital St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral Shelby Farms Stax Museum Sun Studio South Main Arts District Temple Israel Tennessee Brewery Tipton County Museum T. O. Fuller State Park Tom Lee Park Union Station University of Memphis Victorian Village Wolf River

Mississippi	Arkabutla Lake Bally's Casino BankPlus Amphitheater at Snowden Grove DeSoto County Museum Lander's Center Gold Strike Casino Holly Springs National Forest Horseshoe Casino Mississippi River Resorts Casino Tunica Sam's Town Gambling Hall Southaven Towne Center Tunica Resorts Snowden Grove Park Tanger Outlets Southaven Tunica Roadhouse Casino Wall Doxey State Park

Arkansas	Horseshoe Lake Mississippi River Southland Greyhound Park Wapanocca National Wildlife Refuge

Metro area
suburbs

Tennessee	Arlington Atoka Bartlett Collierville Covington Germantown Lakeland Millington Munford Northaven Oakland Piperton Somerville Shelby Forest

Mississippi	Byhalia Hernando Holly Springs Horn Lake Olive Branch Senatobia Southaven Tunica Robinsonville/Tunica Resorts Walls

Arkansas	Earle Marion West Memphis

Metro area
counties

Tennessee	Shelby Fayette Tipton

Mississippi	DeSoto Marshall Tate Tunica

Arkansas	Crittenden

Football stadiums of the American Athletic Conference

East Division	Nippert Stadium, Paul Brown Stadium (Cincinnati) Rentschler Field (Connecticut) Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium (East Carolina) Raymond James Stadium (South Florida) Lincoln Financial Field (Temple) Bright House Networks Stadium (UCF)

West Division	TDECU Stadium (Houston) Liberty Bowl (Memphis) Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (Navy) Gerald J. Ford Stadium (SMU) Yulman Stadium (Tulane) Skelly Field at H. A. Chapman Stadium (Tulsa)

College football venues in Tennessee

Division I
FBS

American Athletic	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium (Memphis)

Conference USA	Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium (Middle Tennessee)

SEC	Neyland Stadium (Tennessee) Vanderbilt Stadium (Vanderbilt)

Division I
FCS

OVC	Governors Stadium (Austin Peay) Nissan Stadium & Hale Stadium (Tennessee State) Tucker Stadium (Tennessee Tech) Graham Stadium (UT Martin)

SoCon	Finley Stadium (Chattanooga) Kermit Tipton Stadium (ETSU)

Division II

SAC	Burke–Tarr Stadium (Carson–Newman) Pioneer Field (Tusculum)

SIAC	Rothrock Stadium (Lane)

Division III

SAA	Fargason Field (Rhodes) McGee Field (Sewanee)

USA South	Lloyd L. Thornton Stadium (Maryville)

NAIA

Mid-South	Lindsey Donnell Stadium (Cumberland) Wildcat Stadium (Bethel)

Jim Carroll Stadium

Current NCAA Division I FBS bowl game stadiums

Alamodome (Alamo) Albertsons Stadium (Famous Idaho Potato) Aloha Stadium (Hawaii) Amon G. Carter Stadium (Armed Forces) Arizona Stadium (Arizona) AT&T Stadium (Cotton) Bank of America Stadium (Belk) Camping World Stadium (Cure, Russell Athletic, Citrus) Chase Field (Cactus) Cotton Bowl (Heart of Dallas) Cramton Bowl (Camellia) EverBank Field (TaxSlayer) FAU Stadium (Boca Raton) Ford Field (Quick Lane) Georgia Dome (Peach) Hard Rock Stadium (Orange) Independence Stadium (Independence) Ladd–Peebles Stadium (Dollar General, Senior) Legion Field (Birmingham) Levi's Stadium (Foster Farms) Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium (Liberty) Marlins Park (Miami Beach) Mercedes-Benz Superdome (New Orleans, Sugar) Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (Military) Nissan Stadium (Music City) NRG Stadium (Texas) Qualcomm Stadium (Poinsettia, Holiday) Raymond James Stadium (Outback) Rose Bowl (Rose) Sam Boyd Stadium (Las Vegas) Sun Bowl (Sun) Thomas Robinson Stadium (Bahamas) Tropicana Field (St. Petersburg, East–West Shrine) University Stadium (New Mexico) University of Phoenix Stadium (Fiesta) Yankee Stadium (Pinstripe)

College Football Playoff games shown in italics

Tennessee Titans

Founded in 1960 Formerly the Houston Oilers (1960–1996) and the Tennessee Oilers (1997–1998) Based and headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee

Franchise	History in Houston in Tennessee Coaches Seasons Players First-round draft picks Starting quarterbacks

Stadiums	Jeppesen Stadium Rice Stadium Houston Astrodome Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Vanderbilt Stadium Nissan Stadium

Culture	Bud Adams Luv Ya Blue T-Rac Cheerleaders

Lore	The Comeback Music City Miracle

Rivalries	Houston Texans Jacksonville Jaguars Pittsburgh Steelers Dallas Cowboys

Division championships (9)	1960 1961 1962 1967 1991 1993 2000 2002 2008

Conference championships (1)	1999

League championships (2)	1960 1961

Retired numbers	1 34 43 63 65 74

Media	Broadcasters Titans All Access Titans Preseason Football Titans Radio Network WKRN-TV WTVF WZTV WGFX-FM

Current league affiliations	League: National Football League (1970–present) Conference: American Football Conference Division: South Division

Former league affiliation	League: American Football League (1960–1969)

Seasons (56)	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Championship seasons in bold

Memphis Mad Dogs

Founded in 1995 Folded in 1996 Based in Memphis, Tennessee

Franchise	Franchise Records Players Seasons Head coaches

Stadiums	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium

Lore	Canadian Football League in the United States

Important figures	Damon Allen Donald Igwebuike Joe Horn

Key personnel	Owners: Fred Smith Head Coach: Pepper Rodgers

CFL seasons (1)	1995

See also	Canadian Football League in the United States

Liberty Bowl

History & conference tie-ins	History Philadelphia Municipal Stadium Convention Hall Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Broadcasters Big 12 Conference Southeastern Conference American Athletic Conference

Games	1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2009 2010 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2016 2016

Notes	There was no Liberty Bowl in 2008 or 2015. There was a Liberty Bowl in January and December of 2010 and 2016.

Defunct stadiums of the National Football League

Early era: 1920–1940	Akron's League Park American League Park Armory Park Baker Bowl Bellevue Park Bison Stadium Borchert Field Bosse Field Braves Field Buffalo Baseball Park Canisius College Canton's League Field Chicago Stadium City Stadium Cleveland Municipal Stadium Comiskey Park Commercial Field Cub's Park Cycledrome Dinan Field Douglas Park Duluth's Athletic Park Dunn Field East Hartford Velodrome Ebbets Field Eclipse Park Fenway Park Forbes Field Frankford Stadium Griffith Stadium Hagemeister Park Horlick Field Kinsley Park Knights of Columbus Stadium Lexington Park Luna Park Minersville Park Muehlebach Field Nash Field Navin Field Newark Schools Stadium Newark Velodrome Nickerson Field Nicollet Park Normal Park Parkway Field Philadelphia Municipal Stadium Polo Grounds Shaw Stadium Spartan Municipal Stadium Sportsman's Park Staley Field Star Park (possible) Swayne Field Thompson Stadium Tiger Stadium Triangle Park Wisconsin State Fair Park Yankee Stadium (1923)

Merger era: 1941–1970	Alumni Stadium Astrodome Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium Balboa Stadium Baltimore Memorial Stadium Busch Memorial Stadium Busch Stadium Cleveland Municipal Stadium Comiskey Park Dyche Stadium Ebbets Field Fenway Park Forbes Field Frank Youell Field Franklin Field Griffith Stadium Harvard Stadium Jeppesen Stadium Kansas City Municipal Stadium Kezar Stadium Metropolitan Stadium Miami Orange Bowl Milwaukee County Stadium Nickerson Field Nippert Stadium Philadelphia Municipal Stadium Pitt Stadium Polo Grounds Rice Stadium Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Shibe Park Tiger Stadium Tulane Stadium Wisconsin State Fair Park Wrigley Field Yankee Stadium (1923)

Current era: 1971–present	Anaheim Stadium Astrodome Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium Buffalo War Memorial Stadium Busch Memorial Stadium Candlestick Park Cleveland Stadium Cotton Bowl The Dome at America's Center Foxboro Stadium Giants Stadium Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome Kansas City Municipal Stadium Kingdome Metropolitan Stadium Miami Orange Bowl Mile High Stadium Milwaukee County Stadium RCA Dome Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Riverfront Stadium Shea Stadium Silverdome Sun Devil Stadium Tampa Stadium Texas Stadium Three Rivers Stadium Tiger Stadium Tulane Stadium Veterans Stadium War Memorial Stadium (Buffalo) Yankee Stadium (1923)

Stadiums used by NFL teams temporarily	Alamodome (New Orleans Saints)1 Champaign Memorial Stadium (Chicago Bears)† Clemson Memorial Stadium (Carolina Panthers)† Frankford High School's Community Memorial Stadium (Frankford Yellow Jackets)1 Giants Stadium (New Orleans Saints)1 Grant Field (Atlanta Falcons) Husky Stadium (Seattle Seahawks)1† Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium (Tennessee Oilers)† LSU Tiger Stadium (New Orleans Saints)1 Marquette Stadium (Green Bay Packers) Philadelphia Municipal Stadium (Philadelphia Eagles)1 Shibe Park1 Stanford Stadium (San Francisco 49ers)1 TCF Bank Stadium (Minnesota Vikings)1† University of Minnesota Memorial Stadium (Minnesota Vikings)1 Vanderbilt Stadium (Tennessee Titans)† Yale Bowl (New York Giants)†

†= Team's stadium under construction or refurbishment at time 1 = A team used the stadium when their permanent stadium was unable to be used as a result of damage.

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