WELCOME STADIUM
 

This is the 29th season the University of Dayton football team has called Welcome Stadium home. The "Welcome" is not a greeting, but honors the late Percival Welcome, longtime Director of Athletics for the Dayton Public Schools. Originally built in 1949 by the city of Dayton for high school football games, it is now owned and operated by the Dayton Board of Education, and it also serves as the site for high school games during the regular season and playoffs, and some of the top track and field events in southwest Ohio.

The Sports Illustrated college football issue in 1991 noted that the name Welcome on a stadium does not describe how difficult visiting teams have found it to win against the Flyers, and it still remains true today. The word implies hospitality, but Dayton has been anything but hospitable to its opponents at home. Entering the 2003 season, UD is 166-30-1 (.845) at home.

In 1974, the city of Dayton, the Dayton Board of Education, the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, and the University of Dayton joined together to help recondition the Stadium, including converting the football field to artificial turf. Welcome Stadium currently features an Astroturf playing surface, full-density urethane 400-meter running track with a steeplechase pit, and a FairPlay scoreboard with video reply capability.

The stadium has a seating capacity of 11,000. Also in the stadium are locker facilities, a two-level indoor press box, an outer press box, and concession stands under both sets of grandstands. Welcome Stadium is located next to the University of Dayton Arena just over one mile from UD's campus. Together the two sites make a sports complex that has provided some of the more memorable moments in Dayton's history.