Municipal Stadium | |
Full name | Tom Braly Municipal Stadium |
---|---|
Former names | Coffee Stadium (1949–1963) |
Address | 521 N Royal Ave. Florence, Alabama United States |
Coordinates | 34°48′36″N87°40′22″W / 34.81000°N 87.67278°W |
Owner | University of North Alabama |
Operator | Univ. North Alabama Athletics |
Type | Stadium |
Capacity | 14,215 [1] |
Record attendance | 15,631 (Football; North Alabama Lions vs. IUP Crimson Hawks; December 11, 1993) |
Surface | ProGrass [1] |
Current use | Football |
Opened | 1949 |
Tenants | |
| |
Website | |
roarlions.com/BralyStadium |
Tom Braly Municipal Stadium is a 14,215-seat stadium in Florence, Alabama. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the University of North Alabama North Alabama Lions and the Florence High School Falcons. [3] It also hosted the NCAA Division II Football Championship games from 1986 to 2013, which were broadcast on ESPN.
UNA holds a 252–114–8 record at Braly Stadium. It has also hosted 30 of UNA's 47 Division II Playoff games. [1]
The stadium is a block east of the university campus and adjacent to the Florence Middle School. [4] The middle school was formerly Coffee High School, but was transformed in 2004 when Florence's two public high schools merged. Braly is named for Thomas Braly, Jr., a Coffee High School coach who was principal of the school from 1945 until his death in 1963. [1]
Seating capacity has increased by 6,200 seats since 1980 (5,000 in 1980 and 1,200 in 1998). The original playing surface featured a sand foundation that enabled the field to withstand six inches (152 mm) of rain at one time without altering the footing; [5] however, that surface was replaced with ProGrass synthetic turf during the summer of 2010.
Other renovations include a $175,000 scoreboard with a message center installed in 1995 and a 1998 renovation that doubled the working press area as well as provided additional restrooms and viewing booths for game administration. The 1995 scoreboard was replaced in 2010 with a $57,000 LED based scoreboard along with a new elevator to the press box and a resealing of the running track around the field. [6]
The new three-level press box consists of a first level that seats up to 50 sportswriters. The second level has areas for coaching staffs from competing schools, the public address announcer, the clock operator, the stadium manager, and also provides space for radio crews from both home and visiting teams. The third floor is used by television and film crews.
Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium is an outdoor stadium in the southeastern United States, on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. It is the home field of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
Legion Field is an outdoor stadium in the southeastern United States in Birmingham, Alabama, primarily designed to be used as a venue for American football, but occasionally used for other large outdoor events. Opened in 1927, it is named in honor of the American Legion, a U.S. organization of military veterans.
Villanova Stadium is a 12,500 seat stadium located on the campus of Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania, USA.
FirstBank Stadium is a football stadium located in Nashville, Tennessee. Completed in 1922 as the first stadium in the South to be used exclusively for college football, it is the home of the Vanderbilt University football team. When the venue was known as Vanderbilt Stadium, it hosted the Tennessee Oilers during the 1998 NFL season and the first Music City Bowl in 1998 and also hosted the Tennessee state high school football championships for many years.
Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium is an American football stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia, on the campus of West Virginia University. It opened in 1980 and serves as the home field for the West Virginia Mountaineers football team. On the day the stadium opened, at an opening ceremony, John Denver touched down on the field in a helicopter, performed the song "Take Me Home, Country Roads," and then immediately departed by helicopter. The facility is named for Milan Puskar, a Morgantown resident and founder of Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. who donated $20 million to the university in 2004. The playing surface retains the stadium's original name of Mountaineer Field, which was also the name of WVU's previous football stadium. The stadium’s design was inspired by Jack Trice Stadium, which opened a few years earlier at Iowa State University.
Tiger Stadium, popularly known as "Death Valley", is an outdoor stadium located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on the campus of Louisiana State University. It is the home stadium of the LSU Tigers football team. Prior to 1924, LSU played its home games at State Field, which was located on the old LSU campus in Downtown Baton Rouge.
Veterans Memorial Stadium at Larry Blakeney Field is a stadium in Troy, Alabama. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the Troy University Trojans. The seating capacity is 30,470. The stadium was originally built in 1950, and has regularly been expanded, renovated and improved since then. The stadium was named in honor of the college students and local residents who gave their lives during World War II. The field received its name from retired head coach Larry Blakeney, the coach with the most wins in Troy history.
Centennial Bank Stadium is a football stadium located in Jonesboro, Arkansas, on the campus of Arkansas State University that is home to the Arkansas State Red Wolves football team. The stadium opened in 1974 as Indian Stadium named after the old nickname of the school, the Indians, until the 2007 season when it was renamed ASU Stadium. The venue was renamed Liberty Bank Stadium in September 2012 after Liberty Bank of Arkansas donated approximately $5 million to the university. In 2013, Liberty Bank was bought by Home BancShares, whose trade name is Centennial Bank. Since 2015, the stadium has a seating capacity of 30,406.
Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium is an outdoor sports stadium in Columbia, Missouri, United States, on the campus of the University of Missouri. It is primarily used for football and serves as the home field for the Missouri Tigers' program. It is the third-largest sports facility by seating capacity in the state of Missouri, behind The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis and Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. In 1972, Memorial Stadium's playing surface was named Faurot Field in honor of longtime coach Don Faurot.
Louis Crews Stadium is a 21,000-seat multi-purpose stadium located on the campus of Alabama A&M University in Normal, Alabama. The stadium opened in 1996 and is home to the Alabama A&M football team. It was named in honor of Louis Crews, who served as the team's head coach from 1960 to 1975.
Shotwell Stadium is a stadium in Abilene, Texas. It was built in 1959, using Rice Stadium as a model. It was initially named the Public Schools Stadium. The first game played in the stadium was in the fall of 1959. Shortly after the first season, the stadium was renamed Shotwell Stadium, after P. E. Shotwell, a longtime football coach at Abilene High School.
Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium is an athletic stadium located in Commerce, Texas. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the Texas A&M University–Commerce Lions football team, Texas A&M-Commerce Men's and Women's Track and Field, and the Commerce High School Tigers Football team of the Commerce Independent School District. Prior to 1996, the stadium was named "East Texas State Memorial Stadium, and until the end of the 2017 season, it was known as Texas A&M-Commerce Memorial Stadium." The stadium was built in honor of the 78 Texas A&M-Commerce alums and students who fought and died during World War II. The stadium was renamed Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium was formally changed in November 2017 in honor of longtime Lion football coach Ernest Hawkins.
The North Alabama Lions football program represents the University of North Alabama (UNA) in college football as the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level as a member of the United Athletic Conference (UAC). The conference, which played its first season in 2023, is a merger of the football leagues of UNA's primary home of the ASUN Conference and the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). UNA had played the 2022 season in the ASUN, and before that had played football in the Big South Conference for three seasons. UNA plays its home games at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama. The team's head coach is Brent Dearmon. UNA was an NCAA Division II member from 1972 to 2017.
The North Alabama Lions are the athletic teams of the University of North Alabama, located in Florence, Alabama. The Lions are a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and compete within the ASUN Conference for all sports except football, which plays in the United Athletic Conference. The university has a total of 14 varsity sports teams, six men's teams and eight women's teams. The fall of 2018 marked the Lion's first year of their transition into Division I. They have a storied tradition in Division II and have earned numerous national titles competing in NCAA Division II's Gulf South Conference.
Byers Field is a 12,750-capacity multi-purpose stadium in Parma, Ohio, located on Day Drive next to The Shoppes at Parma. The stadium can host football, track and field, and soccer events. The three high schools and three middle schools of the Parma City School District share this venue with Saint Ignatius High School.
Manning Field at John L. Guidry Stadium is a 10,500-seat multi-purpose stadium in Thibodaux, Louisiana. It is home to the Nicholls Colonels football team of the Southland Conference in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The stadium is named in honor of former state representative John L. Guidry who was instrumental in the establishment of Francis T. Nicholls Junior College. The playing surface is named Manning Field after the Manning family because the family holds the annual Manning Passing Academy football camp at the facility. The current playing surface is GeoGreen Replicated Grass. The stadium was officially dedicated on September 16, 1972.
Coffee High School was a public high school established in 1914 in Florence, Alabama. After the 2003–2004 school year, the school merged with Bradshaw High School to form Florence High School.
Mike D. Lane Field was a baseball venue in Florence, Alabama, United States. It was home to the North Alabama Lions baseball team of the NCAA Division I ASUN Conference. The facility had a capacity of 1,500 spectators and is named for former head coach Mike D. Lane who has the most wins in North Alabama history.
The 2022 North Alabama Lions football team represented the University of North Alabama during the 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Lions played their home games at the Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama. The team was coached by sixth-year head coach Chris Willis.
Bank Independent Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium that has been approved by the University of North Alabama to be constructed in Florence, Alabama to replace Braly Stadium and Mike D. Lane Field for athletic events by the 2026-2027 academic year.