TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Doak Campbell Stadium has been a Tallahassee landmark since the Florida State Seminoles opened it in 1950. Now, after major renovations, FSU officials say fans will find a venue that looks familiar from the outside but feels significantly updated inside.
FSU spent $265 million on recent upgrades, funded after the FSU Board of Governors issued bonds in 2023 to raise the money. The work included demolishing and rebuilding an entire section of the stadium, with the goal of improving the fan experience while preserving the stadium’s traditional look.
“There’s a lot of history and tradition and we want to make sure that we are good Stewarts of the facility and that it’s a great place for our football team to compete and it’s a great fan experience for everybody that comes here to watch a game,“ said Ben Zierden, FSU’s senior associate athletics director for facilities and capital projects.
Doak Campbell Stadium has 67,277 seats, a natural grass playing surface and exterior brick walls around the venue. Among the changes from the renovation: wider aisles, upgraded seating including chairback seats, and expanded restrooms.
The stadium’s scoreboards were also upgraded with high-resolution displays. The north scoreboard measures 57 feet by 120 feet, and the south scoreboard measures 35 feet by 75 feet.
“The big part of what we wanted to accomplish when we did the stadium renovation was to certainly modernize the areas within our stadium but we still wanted to keep it within a very traditional look so even though we tore down the entire west side and rebuilt it there’s a lot of areas that you wouldn’t know are brand new construction,” Zierden said.
Even with renovations and ongoing maintenance, Zierden said the stadium’s exterior remains a defining part of the city’s landscape.
“That’s one of the things that makes it so iconic, just from a visual perspective, you know you can see Doak from so many different places in downtown,” Zierden said.
FSU’s football season coverage will include an FSU football special airing on the C-W on Aug. 29, ahead of the Seminoles’ home opener against New Mexico State.