The Largest Stadium in America Sits in a College Town in Michigan

The biggest sports venue in the United States isn’t in Texas or Los Angeles. It’s in Ann Arbor.

Michigan Stadium — affectionately known as “The Big House” — has an official capacity of 107,601. It opened in 1927 and has been expanded several times. It is the largest stadium in the United States and, by most rankings, the third-largest stadium in the world. And once you fill it, more keep coming in: actual attendance regularly exceeds the listed capacity once you count band members, photographers, and others on the field. The all-time record was set in 2013 when 115,109 fans watched Michigan beat Notre Dame in a night game.

Here’s the streak that locals are most proud of, though: since November 8, 1975, every single Michigan football home game (excepting the 2020 pandemic season) has drawn a crowd of more than 100,000. That’s 50 years of packed houses, longer than the streak of any other stadium in college football.

A few odd facts. The signature single odd number — 107,601 instead of a round figure — exists because Michigan added one extra seat in honor of former coach and athletic director Fritz Crisler. President Lyndon B. Johnson stood on the field in 1964 and gave a commencement speech in which he laid out his vision for “The Great Society” — meaning the political program of the same name was unveiled in a Michigan football stadium. And in 2014, the NHL Winter Classic was played there, with 105,491 fans watching Detroit and Toronto play hockey in the snow.