Champaign, Illinois
🏈 Illinois Fighting Illini

Standing tall on the plains of central Illinois, Gies Memorial Stadium in Champaign has been the faithful home of the Fighting Illini football team for well over a century. The venue first opened in 1923 and was inspired by horseshoe-shaped Harvard Stadium, which debuted twenty year earlier. Although the size of its spectator area has fluctuated up and down over the years, the stadium currently holds a little more than 60,000 fans on any given fall Saturday.

The brick-clad building was initially christened as a memorial to school alumni who lost their lives in World War I, with the “Gies” name being added to the facility’s title in 2025 to remember Larry Gies Sr., father of a major Illinois donor and himself an Army veteran. The stadium’s façade is made up of more than 200 Tuscan columns, most of which are inscribed with the names of one of the 183 WWI veterans who attended Illinois and made the ultimate sacrifice. The stone used to create the pillars actually originated in an Indiana quarry, and the colonnades – located along the length of the venue on its east and west sides – serve generally as exterior concourses for fans to utilize.

Also present at the stadium is a bell from the USS Illinois, an unfinished battleship from the World War II era. After every score by the Illini, the bell’s chime resonates across the field.

After playing a few seasons in their early years as an independent team, Illinois joined what would become the Big Ten in 1896, making them one of the founding members of the nation’s oldest sports conference. On the gridiron, the Fighting Illini claim 5 national titles, have appeared in nearly two dozen bowl games and have secured a conference crown 15 times. A majority of the team’s national championships have come under head coach Bub Zuppke, after who the field at Gies Memorial is named.

The stadium, in addition to Illini football, has hosted the Chicago Bears on a few occasions – notably during renovations at Soldier Field – as well as the Illinois State Football Championships, the ultimate stage for high school squads across the Land of Lincoln.