Soldier Field
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Soldier Field is located on famous Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, and is currently home to the NFL's Chicago Bears. It reopened on September 27, 2003 after a complete rebuild (the second in the stadium's history). Many fans refer to the rebuilt stadium as the New Soldier Field.
Previously it was the site of the former College All-Star Game, an exhibition between the last year's NFL champion and a team of collegiate all-star players of the previous season prior to their reporting to the training camps of their new professional teams. This game was eventually discontinued due to the risk of injury to the all-stars in what was essentially a meaningless exhibition, and the lack of competitiveness of the game, which in its waning years was almost invariably won by the professional champions.
Many Army-Navy games have also been played there over the years, almost invariably to sellout or near sellout crowds (in its earliest configuration Soldier Field was capable of seating over 90,000 spectators) but the facility has not been host to this event in recent decades. The stadium was the site for many sporting events and exhibitions but it was not until September 1971 that the Chicago Bears first made it their home. Seating capacity was reduced to 57,000 so that spectators would have a relatively good view of the field and beginning in 1978 the plank seating was replaced by individual seats with backs and armrests.
The field serves as a memorial to American soldiers who died in wars, hence its name. It was designed in 1919 and completed in the 1920s. It officially opened on October 9, 1924 (the 53rd anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire), as Municipal Grant Park Stadium, changing its name to Soldier Field on November 11, 1925. Its design is modelled on the Greco-Roman architectural tradition, with doric columns rising above the stands. However, after being rebuilt, the modern stands now dwarf the columns. Due to this design, Chicago sportswriter Jay Mariotti once said that Soldier Field looked like a "spaceship hit the Parthenon." The new stadium seats 61,500 people - 5,444 less than the old one.
In 2001 the Chicago Park District, which owns the structure, faced substantial criticism from the Chicago Tribune when it announced plans to alter the stadium. By the time it was completed, such notable publication as The New York Times ranked the facility as one of the five best new buildings of 2003 (ARCHITECTURE: THE HIGHS; The Buildings (and Plans) of the Year By HERBERT MUSCHAMP (NYT) Published: December 28, 2003).
In 1987 Soldier Field was listed in the National Register of Historic Places program managed by the National Park Service. On September 23, 2004, a 10-member federal advisory committee unanimously recommended that Soldier Field be removed from the National Register and de-listed as a Landmark. The recommendation to de-list was prepared by Carol Ahlgren, architectural historian at the National Park Service's Midwest Regional Office in Omaha, Nebraska. Ms. Ahlgren was quoted in Preservation Online as stating that "If we had let this stand, I believe it would have lowered the standard of National Historic Landmarks throughout the country" and "If we want to keep the integrity of the program, let alone the landmarks, we really had no other recourse." The stadium lost the Landmark designation on February 17, 2006, primarily due to the extent of the renovations.[1][2]
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