Scheumann Stadium (officially, the "John B. and June M. Scheumann Stadium"), formerly known as Ball State Stadium, is in

Muncie, Indiana Muncie ( ) is a city in Delaware County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It is located in East Central Indiana about northeast of Indianapolis. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 65,195, down from 70,085 in the 2010 c ...

. It is primarily used for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, and it is the home field of the

Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State or BSU) is a public research university in Muncie, Indiana, United States. The university has three off-campus centers in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Fishers, Indiana. The university is composed of seven aca ...

Cardinals. The stadium opened in 1967, and it has a capacity of 22,500 for football games.

History

Anticipating rapid growth after transitioning from a teacher's college to a comprehensive college, the Ball State University Board of Trustees approved construction of a new athletic stadium one mile north of campus in 1965. The stadium was completed in 1967 with a capacity of 16,000 for football. It replaced the previous stadium closer to campus, on University Avenue across from

Ball Memorial Hospital Indiana University Health Ball Memorial Hospital is an academic teaching hospital in the city of Muncie, Indiana. It is the only hospital in the city of Muncie, Indiana. It was founded by the Ball Brothers, hence the name, Ball Memorial Hospital. ...

. The site is now used as a soccer field for Burris Laboratory School. A grandstand on the south end of the stadium was added in the 1990s, increasing the capacity to 22,500. In 2005, the stadium was renamed after Ball State alumni and benefactors John B. and June M. Scheumann.

Today

In 2007, a $13 million renovation of the stadium was completed. Planned improvements included new lighting for night games, enclosing the north

end zone The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on the opposite side of the field ...

with lawn seating to create a 22,500-seat horseshoe-shaped venue, new

concession stand A concession stand, or refreshment stand (American English, Canadian English), snack kiosk or snack bar (British English, Irish English) is a place where patrons can purchase snacks or food at a cinema, amusement park, zoo, aquarium, circus, f ...

s, a brick facade, a larger

press box The press box is a special section of a sports stadium or arena that is set up for the media to report about a given event. It is typically located in the section of the stadium holding the luxury box and can be either enclosed or open to the ...

, and private luxury suites. On August 29, 2013, a new video board was installed. For a time, notable Ball State

alumnus Alumni (: alumnus () or alumna ()) are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women, and alums (: alum) or alumns (: alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. Th ...

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer, and auto racing team owner. He hosted late-night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of ''Late N ...

jokingly campaigned via his

television program A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via Terrestrial television, over-the-air, Satellite television, satellite, and cable te ...

to have the stadium named after him. When the stadium was named after the Scheumanns for their donations to the university,

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

mayor Bart Peterson joked that the city would rename the I-465 Beltway as the David Letterman Expressway. Indianapolis was Letterman's childhood home town.

Records

Mean game attendance at the stadium was at the highest in school history in 2008, with an average of about 21,000 visitors per game. This can be attributed to the team's success, as well as recent renovations to the stadium. A school record 10,546 students attended the September 6, 2008 game versus the

Navy Midshipmen The Navy Midshipmen are the athletic teams that represent the United States Naval Academy. The academy sponsors 36 varsity sports teams and 12 club sport teams.ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

, and Ball State won, 35–23.
The all-time record attendance for a game at Scheumann Stadium is 23,861, set on November 25, 2008 when Ball State completed an undefeated regular season by beating MAC rival Western Michigan Broncos football, Western Michigan. The Cardinals won handily, 45–22, pushing their record to 12–0, but they lost to Buffalo in the MAC championship game and to Tulsa in the GMAC Bowl.

References

External links

Scheumann Stadium home page at Ball State Athletics

Stadium renovation home page
{{Indiana college football venues College football venues in Indiana Ball State Cardinals football F.C. Indiana Ball State Cardinals sports venues Tourist attractions in Muncie, Indiana Sports venues completed in 1967 Soccer venues in Indiana 1967 establishments in Indiana

History

Today

Records

See also

References

External links