Despite the realignment changing its identity, the Sun Belt Conference has established itself as one of the best “Group of Five” conferences in the nation. As the SBC grows in strength, the football stadiums within the conference have started to establish themselves as great college football hotspots.
But how do these stadiums rank amongst their peers in the Sun Belt?
To determine the list, the stadiums are ranked based on the following three criteria:
- Home Record
- Attendance (Percent of Capacity)
- Uniqueness (Location, Stadium Design, Lore)
With that in mind, here is our ranking of the Sun Belt Conference stadiums from worst to best.
10) Malone Stadium (ULM)
Malone Stadium has garnered attention for being one of the worst stadiums in the FBS. The design of the stadium gives off the feel of a local high school team rather than an FBS caliber team. Home attendance has been a problem for several years as the Warhawks have ranked in the bottom half of the Sun Belt in percent of stadium capacity and average attendance.
Add on top of the subpar attendance, the poor home record indicates Malone Stadium isn’t an intimidating stadium for away teams.
9) Ladd-Peebles Stadium (South Alabama)
Ladd-Peebles Stadium in the oldest stadium in the Sun Belt Conference being built in 1948. Ladd-Peebles is home to the Senior Bowl since 1951 and has hosted the Mobile Alabama Bowl since 1999. Unfortunately for the South Alabama Jaguars, the stadium is not the best of home stadiums.
Since establishing their football program in 2009, Ladd-Peebles has been the only home of the Jaguars. However, the stadium is located off-campus and has had trouble attracting USA fans to attend games. South Alabama has ranked in the bottom half in percent of stadium capacity since 2014 only reaching as high as 7th.
Along with ULM, South Alabama has had a subpar home record since 2014. The only reason Ladd-Peebles is ranked higher than ULM on our list is that the stadium still has a level of prestige to it with the hosting of the Senior Bowl and the Mobile Alabama Bowl.
8) Centennial Bank Stadium (Arkansas State)
The Red Wolves of Arkansas State have gathered one of the best home records in the Sun Belt Conference. Since 2014, the Red Wolves have had a winning record in Centennial and haven’t lost more than two games. In fact, Arkansas State hasn’t had a home losing record since 2001.
Despite the excellent home record and a positive percent of stadium capacity, one major flaw brings Centennial way down in the list.
Centennial Bank is the only stadium in the stadium to have a corporate name. Having a stadium named after a corporate business devalues the stadium and strips it of its aura and prestige. Stadiums like Kroger Field (Kentucky), Capital One Field (Maryland), and Centennial Bank don’t sound as intimidating when compared to Kyle Field (Texas A&M), Beaver Stadium (Penn State), or the Rose Bowl (UCLA).
The design of the stadium is a little bit jarring to look at as well. Centennial being chopped up into three different sections doesn’t give the stadium a smooth clean look like the other stadiums. It’s not as bad as Malone but improvement is needed to give Centennial a better appearance and ranking.
7) Cajun Field (Louisiana)
Despite a subpar home attendance over the past few years, Cajun Field trumps Centennial Bank with its uniqueness.
For one, Cajun Field is the original stadium to be called “The Swamp” gaining its nickname in 1988, a full four years before Steve Spurrier started calling Ben Hill Griffin Stadium “The Swamp.” To bring credit to the nickname, the stadium is located 2 meters below sea-level with its bowl shape and is located in the heart of the Louisiana Swamplands.
Points do get taken away with an awkward design of the northwest endzone. Added seating to the hill created a weird asymmetrical pattern that is a sight for sore eyes for people with OCD.
6) Georgia State Stadium (Georgia State)
Finally escaping the clutches of the Georgia Dome, the Panthers of Georgia State finally found a stadium to call home.
After the Atlanta Braves left Turner Field for their new stadium, Georgia State was able to convert the baseball stadium into a fully functional football stadium with great success. With the creation of the new stadium, fan attendance has increased dramatically with the Panthers being in the Top 5 in percent of stadium capacity since 2017.
Georgia State Stadium is beautifully designed considering it was originally a baseball stadium and has churned out fan support for the Panthers that was nonexistent in the Georgia Dome. If the Panther’s football team continues an upward trend and the fans keep showing up, Georgia State Stadium will be a well-known commodity.
5) Bobcat Stadium (Texas State)
Bobcat Stadium in San Marcos is one of the most beautifully designed stadiums in the Sun Belt. With a unique horseshoe shape, Texas State has the facility to be a premier Group of 5 football team.
But the last few years haven’t been kind to the Bobcats as both their home record and stadium attendance have taken large tolls. In fact, Texas State was dead last in percent of stadium capacity with an abysmal 43.7% in 2018.
When Texas State fans do show up though, Bobcat Stadium can be rocking. The 2005 FCS Semifinal run, 2011 season, season openers against Houston, Texas Tech, Navy, and UTSA prove that Bobcat Stadium can be one of the most hostile places to play for opposing teams.
If the Jake Spavital era kicks off like everyone hopes it does, Bobcat Stadium will turn into a huge home-field advantage.
4) Brooks Stadium (Coastal Carolina)
Despite being in the Sun Belt Conference for only three years, Brooks Stadium has become one of the signature stadiums in the Sun Belt.
Being one of the three stadiums with a non-traditional field color, the others being Eastern Michigan (Grey) and the notorious blue field of Boise State, the “Surf Turf” stands out from the rest of the Sun Belt stadiums without being too gaudy with a teal colored football field and the bronze colored endzone.
Despite a capacity less than 9,300 prior to 2017 season, the Chanticleers have had a stadium capacity of more than 90% since the 2014 season. Expanding to 15,000 seats in 2017, Coastal Carolina led the league in percent of stadium capacity with 99.7%.
Though their home record dropped since their move to the Sun Belt, Coastal had one of the best home records in the FCS going 18-3 from 2014-2016.
3) Veterans Memorial Stadium (Troy)
The “Vet” has been home to the Troy Trojans since 1950 and has established itself as one of the toughest places for opponents to play.
Veterans Memorial has seen the Trojans capture three national championships, 18 conference championships from four different conferences, and have eight bowl-eligible teams play there.
Though Troy’s home record and attendance suffered during the latter years of the Larry Blakeney era, then Troy Head Coach Neal Brown was able to turn the sinking ship around and turned Troy into a Sun Belt power, reestablishing the aura of Veterans Memorial. The home opener of the 2018 season saw the Trojans break a home attendance record of 29,612.
The only downside the stadium has is in the name. Though the stadium was named in honor of the college students from Troy who died in World War II, Veterans Memorial is part of the 15 FBS Stadiums who have Memorial in their name, losing some uniqueness.
2) Paulson Stadium (Georgia Southern)
Home of the six-time FCS National Champions, “The Prettiest Little Stadium in America” is considered one of the most hostile environments in the FBS.
With a 195-40 home record and a 33-3 FCS Playoff record, the Eagles have established themselves as a terror when at home.
With a home record to boot, fan support is really high for Georgia Southern adding to the allure of the stadium. Paulson Stadium ranks high in percent of stadium capacity except for the last two years due to poor football performance.
But with Chad Lunsford returning to the Triple-Option last year and winning 10 games in 2018, including beating Sun Belt Champ App State at home, fan support is on the rise.
(1) Kidd Brewer Stadium (Appalachian State)
“The Rock” is one of those stadiums you have to see to believe. Located deep in the Appalachian Mountains stands one of the most scenic stadiums in the country as Kidd Brewer is surrounded by mountains.
Along with being one of the most scenic stadiums in the Sun Belt, “The Rock” is one of the toughest places to play for opposing teams with App State boasting a 240-75-5 home record including going 25-5 in the Sun Belt Conference.
Since joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2014, App State has finished no less than 2nd in percent of stadium capacity out of the ten schools and has averaged more than 20,000 fans per season.
With a home record to boot, fantastic fan turnout, and a unique location, Kidd Brewer takes the spot as the best stadium in the Sun Belt.
Join the discussion at Maroon and Golden to give your thoughts on the rankings.
The picture used for Centennial Bank Stadium is pre-North End Zone expansion. https://www.redwolvesfoundation.com/north-endzone-expansion/
The north end zone and football ops will be fully functional this fall.
I can’t wait to see it completed. I think there are several current additions/expansions taking place all over the Sun Belt right now. Would be nice to see another ranking after those projects are complete.