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📍 Greenville, North Carolina
🏈 Home of East Carolina Pirates football

Rising above the coastal plains of North Carolina, nearly 70 miles from the ocean itself, Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is the beloved home of the ECU Pirates and a fixture of college football. Though the once-pirate infested shores may be distant, the vigorous seafaring spirit is still strong in the college city of Greenville. Here, gameday crowds swell like the tide, echoing across the flatlands and making it clear why this place deserves its “Rowdy Dowdy” moniker.

Built in 1963, the stadium originally accommodated 10,000 spectators and replaced a much smaller College Stadium, which seated only 2,000 and had served as the Pirates’ home since 1949. Named for James Ficklen – a local tobacco company owner and early supporter of the program – the field expanded to hold 20,000 in the late ’60s and additional seating in the corners was added in the ’70s, bringing capacity up to 35,000.

In 1994, a program-altering $1 million donation by the Dowdy family resulted in even more enhancements, and the venue was renamed Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in their honor. An upper deck on the north side was constructed in 1998, increasing the stadium’s size to 40,000, and further expansion in 2009 – along with the addition of a new press box and suite tower in 2019 – put the stadium above the 50,000 mark.

Rowdy Dowdy has seen the Pirates dominate the gridiron over the years, welcoming – and often decimating – opponents from a variety of conferences, from the SoCon to Conference USA to The American. At the Division I level, East Carolina has won three outright Southern Conference titles, including back-to-back in ’72 and ’73, and also secured back-to-back Conference USA championships in 2008 and 2009. The Pirates have also competed in nearly two dozen bowl games, the highlight of which came in 1992 when ECU edged out local rival NC State by three points in the Peach Bowl.

As East Carolina football has grown, so too has their brick-and-concrete home, reflecting the program’s steady rise. What began as a small field is now a large, modern facility that anchors the university’s athletics.