Top 10 Loudest College Football Stadiums

Decibel levels, championships and our own ears have proven these to be the loudest college football stadiums of all time.

Top 10 Loudest College Football Stadiums

There's a good argument to be made that there is no sports fan, in any capacity, who can make themselves louder than a rabid college football fan in the throes of a Saturday spent cheering on their favorite school.

It's also probably not a coincidence that, over the years, the teams with the loudest fans have also been some of the most successful teams. While that doesn't always translate to national championships, it does reflect well on the dedication of those screaming fans and their loyalty.

Judging by either decibel level readings or what we've seen (and heard) with our own eyes, these are our picks for the loudest college football stadiums of all time.

10. Michigan Stadium

College: University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Michigan)

Opened: 1927

Capacity: 107,601

Bottom Line: Michigan Stadium

Visitors to Michigan Stadium are usually rendered speechless the first time they're in the presence of the University of Michigan's home stadium — the largest stadium in the Western Hemisphere and the third-largest stadium in the entire world.

So, why isn't Michigan, at its staggering capacity, the loudest stadium on the list? The snarky thing would be to blame it on a bourgeoisie crowd that feels like it's above acting a damn fool on Saturdays in the fall. But we would rather place the blame on the fact that the Wolverines just went almost an entire decade without beating rival Ohio State.

9. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium

College: University of Florida (Gainesville, Florida)

Opened: 1930

Capacity: 88,548

Bottom Line: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium

Modern college football fans got a small taste of what it was like in the 1990s and late 2000s when the University of Florida was one of the nation's dominant teams and when Ben Hill Griffin Stadium absolutely came off its hinges during a win over No. 7 Utah in the 2022 season opener.

It's kind of a shame the program has fallen on such hard times in recent years — they're on their fourth head coach in the last decade and have yet to even sniff a College Football Playoff game since the CFP's inception in 2014. That said, Florida fans are incredibly loyal — think of them as the south's version of Nebraska fans.

8. Kyle Field

College: Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas)

Opened: 1927

Capacity: 102,733

Bottom Line: Kyle Field

Kyle Field has been home to some of the more memorable regular-season college football games of the last few decades, and there are few places in college football that give the home team more of an advantage.

Need further proof? Texas A&M went 55-4-1 at Kyle Field in the 1990s, including a streak of 31 consecutive wins from 1990 to 1995 followed by 22 consecutive wins from 1996 to 2000. The only thing missing has been championships — the Aggies won just one conference title in 15 years in the Big 12 and haven't won a conference title since joining the SEC in 2012.

When you consider current head coach Jimbo Fisher has a 10-year, $75 million contract that's probably pretty tough to swallow.

7. Beaver Stadium

College: Penn State University (University Park, Pennsylvania)

Opened: 1960

Capacity: 106,572

Bottom Line: Beaver Stadium

The official seating capacity of Penn State makes it the second-largest stadium in the Western Hemisphere and the fourth-largest stadium in the entire world. We can think of very few environments more intimidating than when the home crowd at Beaver Stadium turns the stadium into a "White Out" — can you imagine being the opposing team on one of those days?

One of the newer stadiums on this list, Beaver Stadium has undergone eight major renovations in the last 60 years, including six expansions that have doubled its capacity since it first opened.

6. Lane Stadium

College: Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, Virginia)

Opened: 1965

Capacity: 65,632

Bottom Line: Lane Stadium

There aren't many experiences in college football — or all of sports for that matter — that can equate to what happens when "Enter Sandman" by Metallica begins to play and the Virginia Tech football team enters Lane Stadium.

For 32 years from 1982 to 2014, Lane Stadium also had the highest elevation for a college football stadium in the U.S., but the thing we love about it the most is that the Hokies still play on natural grass. It's a wonderful mix of Bermudagrass and Perennial Ryegrass, and if we owned a time machine, we'd be tempted to go back to 1999 and watch Michael Vick play there in his prime.

5. Autzen Stadium

College: University of Oregon (Eugene, Oregon)

Opened: 1966

Capacity: 60,000

Bottom Line: Autzen Stadium

At a babyfaced 66 years old, the University of Oregon's Autzen Stadium is the newest stadium to make the list, beating Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium by just one year — it's also the smallest to make the list.

The hometown Ducks got a major amplification in the noise department when it increased its capacity by almost 20,000 in the early 2000s. Since then, Oregon fans have had plenty to cheer about — they've won six Pac-10 or Pac-12 Conference titles since the expansion was completed in 2002 and played in the national championship twice in that stretch.

4. Tiger Stadium

College: Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)

Opened: 1924

Capacity: 102,321

Bottom Line: Tiger Stadium

LSU opened with humble beginnings — it only seated 12,000 when the Tigers played their first game here in 1924. That's a world away from where Tiger Stadium is today, busting at the seams with approximately 102,000 fans on any given sweaty Saturday in the South.

All we ask is that you make a stop at Fred's either before or after the game and thank us later. And grab some crawfish while you're at it.

3. Death Valley (Clemson Memorial Stadium)

College: Clemson University (Clemson, South Carolina)

Opened: 1942

Capacity: 82,500

Bottom Line: Death Valley (Clemson Memorial Stadium)

Do us a favor, and don't call it Memorial Stadium or Clemson Memorial Stadium — it's Death Valley. Of all the entrances we've come to love in college football, we can't think of one more electric than when the Clemson football team comes "Running Down the Hill" — cringeworthy coach participation aside. It's a tradition announcer Brent Musburger once called "the most exciting 25 seconds in sports."

One of the things we love most about Death Valley is that its capacity is still kept at a relatively humble 82,500 — nothing to turn your nose up at but not in the league of some of the bigger college football stadiums. This goes to show that it's not the size of the stadium that matters most ... it's the fans that fill it up.

2. Neyland Stadium

College: University of Tennessee (Knoxville, Tennessee)

Opened: 1921

Capacity: 101,915

Bottom Line: Neyland Stadium

The sheer might of the University of Tennessee's Neyland Stadium was on display in what will likely go down as the marquee game of the 2022 college football regular season — the first win by the Vols over the University of Alabama in 15 years.

Unique because of its white-and-orange checkered seating — a sight to behold on live television — Neyland Stadium is still among the Top 10 largest stadiums in the world, but it's not as big as it used to be. The stadium was downsized from a max capacity of 104,079 to its current capacity of 101,915 before the 2022 season.

1 . Husky Stadium

College: University of Washington (Seattle, Washington)

Opened: 1920

Capacity: 70,083

Bottom Line: Husky Stadium

There is a very concrete reason that the University of Washington's Husky Stadium tops our list. That reason boils down to one day, Sept. 19, 1992, when Husky fans registered a staggering 133.6 decibels during a game against Nebraska — the highest decibel level ever recorded at a college football game.

While it's been some time since Washington was in its full glory as a football program, it's worth pointing out that the stadium's construction plays a large part in its ability to generate noise. The majority of the seating is built up along the sidelines and not in the end zones and, as is typical in the Pacific Northwest, it's covered by metal roofs that serve as a way to amplify the sound.

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