FirstBank Stadium

FirstBank Stadium sits on the Vanderbilt University campus in Nashville, Tennessee. The ground began as Dudley Field in 1922, built exclusively for college football. The original structure, designed by architects Walk Jones and Francis Man, Inc., served as the home for the Commodores until a radical reconstruction in the early 1980s. That project, costing $10.1 million, saw most of the grandstand demolished and sideline seats raised using hydraulic jacks, a process that led to its renaming as Vanderbilt Stadium.

The most recent transformation occurred in 2024, following the completion of the south end zone renovation. This phase of the $300 million "Vandy United" campaign reduced the capacity to 35,000, prioritising premium experiences and chair-back seating over raw volume. The playing surface, labelled as Dudley Field, is artificial turf, a change made in 2012 after decades of natural grass and AstroTurf.

While primarily a college venue, the stadium held a unique place in professional sports history, briefly hosting the Tennessee Oilers for one season in 1998. That same year saw the inaugural Music City Bowl played on its pitch. Before the modern era of corporate naming, the ground witnessed significant cultural events, including a speech by President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and a Billy Graham Crusade in 1954 that drew over 65,000 people, an attendance figure that remains the record. Today, the stadium closes its gates after games featuring the Commodores, who recently secured a notable victory against the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2024.