Mackay Stadium

Since the early 1900's, Nevada football teams have played in facilities named after university benefactor Clarence Mackay. Until the mid 1960's, Mackay Stadium was a small field located in the bowl that currently houses the Reynolds School of Journalism. The modern Mackay Stadium was completed in 1965 with a seating capacity of 7,500. The facility has been expanded several times in the last 15 years.

The first game at new Mackay Stadium established the Wolf Pack's winning tradition in their home facility - a 17-13 win over UC Santa Barbara, October 1, 1966. The quarterback in that game was Chris Ault. Since then, Nevada is 149-44-2 (.769) in the friendly confines of Mackay Stadium.

In the late 80's/early 90's, with Division I-A status in mind, then Athletics Director Chris Ault began to investigate the process of expansion. Now, $6.5 million worth of fund-raising later, the stadium is at 31,900 capacity, has a spectacular skybox complex on the west side with 48 permanent suites, and impressive media and stadium club facilities. Add 12 suites and the upper deck on the east side, an improved scoreboard, and vastly improved rest room capacities, and it is no wonder Nevada led the Big West in attendance in seven of its eight years in the league. The 1997 season provided two of the top three crowds of all time as over 30,000 came out for the Oregon and UNLV games in September.

In the summer of 2000, the innovative FieldTurf synthetic grass was installed in the stadium. This state-of-the-art product will pay for itself in water and labor savings and has an eight-year guarantee. A year later, the Benefactor Tribute was added near the south entrance to the stadium. It serves as the focal point of the Endowment Plaza, built in the early 1990's, which forms a semi-circle opposite the bronze wolves just inside Mackay's main entrance and honors all those who have helped with capital projects, endowed athletics scholarships and/or been members of the Millennium Team, helping Nevada join the WAC in 2000.

Added for the 2002 season were large sponsor billboards on the back side of the south end zone bleachers. A northwest ticket booth was added in 2003 to accommodate those fans entering from the north side of the stadium. That same year, one of the most significant changes occurred -- lights were added to allow for valuable television exposure and night games are now part the Mackay experience for early season games.

Prior to the 2004 season, a new, 1,900-seat parking garage opened, called the West Stadium Parking Complex. It is located adjacent to Mackay and Lawlor to accommodate special event parking at those two venues as well as for general university parking demands during the week with the ever-increasing University enrollment. Also added last year was a new sound system that enhances the audio portion of the game-day experience at Mackay.

New in 2005 were organized tailgate tent areas in the northwest part of the stadium and improved game day festivities.