Scott Stadium has been used by the University of Virginia since 1931; it replaced Lambeth Field as the Cavaliers' home venue.

Overall, NC State had a record of 17-9 at this field, playing all their games but one as confernce mates.

  * Non-conference games

Virginia's Lambeth Field was a beloved southern football venue, famous for its idyllic setting and iconic collonaded surroundings. There was, however, one small problem with the venue: it was small, with room for only 8-10,000 spectators. While this could be a minor issue in terms of home revenue, it did not necessarily have to be problematic: many schools saddled with small venues simply either hosted games in neutral cities or played most of their games on the road.

The Cavaliers, however, did not have this option: in 1919, school faculty signed a rule stating the Cavaliers would only play home-and-home meetings in an effort to minimize the perceived commercialization of the sport. While this was not a big issue for the first couple decades of the 20th century, by the mid-1920s, most games in Charlottesville could only satisfy ticket demand through the use of temporary bleachers.

To solve this problem, the university enacted plans to open a new stadium. When the initial announcement was made in January 1928, one columnist bemoaned the loss of the scene, writing "The passing of Lambeth Field as the home of the Cavaliers in some respects is to be regretted, for it is a beautiful gridiron.... But the pitiless edict of progress has sounded its death knell." As of that time, architects had been designing the athletic plant "for some time" and were nearing completion [1].

Initial costs for the stadium were $30,000 (about $5.5 million in 2023). The 22,000-person concrete stadium was financed largely by Frederic William Scott, rector and philanthropist of the University, in honor of his parents. The site selected was at the base of Observatory Mountain, in a valley used as an army truck school during the First World War; incidentally, what became a parking to the east of the stadium was also UVA's original athletic venue, Madison Hall Field. Around-the-clock work began on June 4th with the hope of having the field ready by Thanksgiving Day of that season, so Virginia could return the favor afforded to them in 1927 at UNC's Kenan Stadium by having their rivals dedicate the field [2].

Unfortunately, those plans fell through: by mid-October 1930, it was known that the stadium would not open until the 1931 football season -- apparently, "great ledges of rock" had to be blasted away, which slowed the excavation work. Instead, it was decided to dedicate the stadium against VMI, their second-most played opponent at the time, in October 1931; the Cavaliers also helped VMI open Alumni Field a decade prior [3]. The seating capacity was officially lowered to 21,000, not by any fluke of construction, but by making the seats wider (though pre-game reports indicated the size was bumped back up to 21,800). It was reckoned that the stadium's seating could be upped to as much as 25,000 if necessary without a single thing but paint on the redwood seats. A presidents box was also included along the top of the east stand. The layout was identical to that of both Kenan and Sanford Stadium in Georgia [4].

The stadium was not dedicated until October 15th, for the Cavaliers' fourth home game of the season. Scott Stadium was largely completed; the hang-up instead seems to be the problem of securing suitable access roads, as well as possibly waiting to play the venue's first game as a true dedicatory game. The stadium's red brick and white stone collonaded structure, made in homage to Lambeth Field, was also planted with ornamental trees and shrubs. Virginia sports writer W. N. Cox believed that, were Thomas Jefferson alive then, "he would get all hot and pleasantly bothered over Virginia's new stadium" [5] [6].

Everything about the stadium was said to be perfect on opening day on October 15th, 1931: "Instead of lending somber chill of cold concrete... Scott Stadium is so garnished with red brick railings and stately collonade[;] the immediate effect is of warmth and spirit" [6]. The same could not be said for the two teams' talent: both teams entered the day with a 1-2-1 record, limiting attendance to just 10-12,000 for the Southern Conference homecoming game. Interest in the Yorktown sesquicentennial celebration, held October 16-19 was also said to keep interest down, as did the looming chance of showers. The Cadets eventually spoiled Virginia's dedicatory game, as the Cavaliers had done likewise a decade ago, defeating the home team 18-3 [7].

Despite the expanded accommodations, they proved unneeded. First and foremost, Virginia put out a series of lackluster football teams, going 28-53-8 from the opening of Scott Stadium through 1940. The second change was that the school again allowed neutral site games, partially conceding at first by making an exception only for games against service academy teams held in Washington, DC from 1933 onward; in 1936 the rule was abolished entirely so the Cavaliers could help Norfolk dedicate Foreman Field against William & Mary [8].

Because of this, the 1931 dedicatory game remained the venue's largest attendance until 1941 or later, with Scott Stadium hosting crowds largely small enough to have been held in the old Lambeth Field. Attendance was so poor, in fact, that benefactor Frederic W. Scott passed away before his wish of seeing a capacity game in his stadium could come to fruition. This all changed in 1941, when, on the legs of a 8-1 team, 22,000 persons were reported to attend the season-ending victory over rival North Carolina, though pictures from the game show significant empty portions of the stadium. Further, papers in 1947 noted the stadium's size was never considerably challenged before that year's march against Harvard [9].

The first major renovation to Scott Stadium came a few years later to a section of bleachers which began sagging in 1946 following a heavy rain. The section was considered structurally weak enough that it was closed the following season, but was repaired ahead before 1948 contests [10]. Otherwise, temporary bleachers were added as early as 1947 to host an anticipated crowd of 25,000 for the Harvard game. Additional field and/or endzone bleachers remained through 1948, but firm numbers are hard to track down. Officially, the seating capacity was reported as 24,500 in 1949, with capacity to expand to 27,000 with bleacher seats; this was probably a result of repainting the bleachers, as alluded to earlier, rather than any major renovations [11].

Throughout the 1950s, the venue's capacity ebbed and flowed according to the number of temporary bleachers available or present. The bleachers were probably expanded to seat at least 27,000 for the 1949 game against Tulane, which held a reported 30,000 person crowd. The following year, the capacity was upped by just over 3,000 seats in anticipation of a heavily-attended William & Mary game, pushing the venue's capacity to 33,156 [12]. Ahead of the 1952 game against Duke, there were at least 34,000 seats in the venue. "I was over at the stadium this morning," noted coach Art Guepe, "and there are bleachers all over the place. I've never seen as many bleachers in Scott Stadium. People will be swarming over our fence like flies" [13]. Officially, however, the capacity was just 23,848 [16].

Wikipedia reports that the stadium expanded by 2,000 seats in 1964 after having held 24,500 persons since 1948; I'm not sure what the ultimate source of the former expansion is, but the only game holding 26,500 spectators that season that I came across was reported to be an overflow crowd. New seats were installed in 1963, however, this work was primarily replacing older, splintered seats. That was the last major upgrade to the stadium for several years [14].

This soon became problematic. "UVa has a stadium problem," read an article which detailed the financial shortfalls faced by both Virginia Tech and UVA. "Scott Stadium has traditional elegance in a tree-lined natural bowl[,] but Scott Stadium also has a bad case of old age and too few seats.... If UVa is to make money at home[,] a new stadium or massive renovation is almost a necessity" [15]. And after two decades without a serious improvement, the stadium itself was also in rough shape: "There is a lot of deterioration of surface concrete in the stands," explained Athletic Director Gene Corrigan. "Bolts are coming loose. Even without expansion, there has to be a major renovation." The American Broadcasting Corporation had already promised to never televise a game from Scott Stadium due to inadequate accommodations [16].

In late 1972, plans emerged for the enlargement of Scott Stadium to about 40,000 seats, as well as replace the grass playing surface with artificial turf. It was hoped that the work would be ready in time for 1975 with a $3 million (about $22 million in 2023) budget [16]. Lack of funding, however, delayed the work by several years. Astroturf was installed first, in 1974, alongside some general refurfbishment work; this was made possible by $660,000 in donations from descendants of benefactor F. W. Scott and an anonymous donor [17].

In 1976, funding came for two new 6,000 seat upper decks, pushing the venue's seating capabilities to about 36,000, as well as a new "hanging" press box. Construction began at the close of the 1976 season and throughout the 1977 season. In June 1978, however, just months before its anticipated opening date, it was discovered that there were cracks in some 25 of the stadium's sections caused by insufficient steel in the beams; about 4,000 seats on the ground level were completed, but several spectators feared sitting under them due to the precarious situation of the upper decks above. "Virginia football is snakebit," opined Todd Turner, Cavalier ticket manager [18]. Because of the scope of work, the Virginians used a temporary press box for the entire season.

Though a solution was quickly reached (low concrete walls were to be erected along 8 aisles beneath the bowing upper decks), disputes over who would foot the bill delayed the actual construction; by April 1979, it was known the repairs would not be complete before the start of the coming football season. In the end, the insurance company of the architecture firm (William & Tazewell) covered 80% of the $1 million (a bit over $3.7 million in 2023), while the University would pay the remainder. In the end, work added 8,000 seats in the upper decks, plus the 2,000 seats added to each side of the stadium's lower bowl in 1978. Total capacity was 42,000, including standing room [19].

As Virginia's football fortunes rose, their attendance did too. Though I've found no evidence of permanent construction, more and more papers started reporting Scott Stadium's capacity as numbers north of the 40,000s, reflecting overflow, standing-room-only capacities and the construction of periodic temporary bleachers -- in particular, about 6,000 seats in bleachers and a grass berm on the endzones. While permanent were lights installed for the first time in 1983, and new artificial grasses installed in 1981 and 1995, no major seating expansions took place other than the meager seating which came with the creation of Bryant Hall in 1985 [20].

That all changed in late 1996, when it emerged that the Cavaliers planned to replace Bryant Hall and expand their stadium by 20,000 seats, with work funded largely by alumni Carl W. Smith, for whom the complex is now named. A year prior, grass was planted in Scott Stadium for the first time since 1974, a renovation prompted largely so the school could re-introduce their mounted mascot, called Cavman, to the pre-game routine; the playing surface was renamed David A. Harrison III Field in honor of the benefactor. The first phase of the project was completed in 1998, when a new video scoreboard was added. Prior to the 1999 season, 3,517 seats were added to the south endzone, completing the horseshoe, as well as some luxury seating accommodations. The bulk of the seating, however, was added ahead of the 2000 football season, when the upper bowl was expanded and also completed into a horseshoe. The venue's new capacity was increased to 61,500 [21]. This was the last major work to the stadium as of 2023, aside from a new scoreboard, which was installed in 2009.

Photos of Scott Stadium