UNLV Rebels - Football

Football

The UNLV Rebels football team plays at Sam Boyd Stadium, an off campus stadium which seats 36,800 (with the ability to seat more than 40,000 if needed) for football and is owned by the university. The stadium originally opened in 1971 as the Las Vegas Stadium and was renamed the Las Vegas Silver Bowl in 1978. In 1984 it was renamed Sam Boyd Silver Bowl and finally Sam Boyd Stadium in 1994. 1997 saw the addition of the Rebel Experience outside the stadium. The stadium closed in 1998 and had a grand reopening in 1999 after a major facelift and renovation that featured an increase from 32,000 permanent seats to 36,800 permanent seats, a complete renovation of the concourse level, a completely new press tower featuring luxury suites and club seats named the Wells Fargo Tower, a new video scoreboard and a switch from the retractable artificial turf to natural grass. 2003 saw the natural grass replaced with a synthetic surface, made by TurfTech. In 2009, a new auxiliary scoreboard was installed at the south end of the stadium and new DreamSuites were installed in both endzones. The Rebels were once a powerhouse in Division II before jumping to Division I-A (now Division I FBS) and have seen some trouble since their promotion. Although the Rebels have faced some adversity, they are one of the only teams to be undefeated in bowl games, winning the California Bowl in 1984 (subsequently forfeited due to ineligible players) and the Las Vegas Bowl twice in 1994 and 2000. The Rebels have only won 2 conference championships in their history, both in the Big West Conference. They have had 9 All-Americans, 13 times, 9 Conference MVPs, 1 Conference Student Athlete of the Year, 3 Conference Coaches of the Year, 4 Conference Freshman of the Year, and 2 Freshman All-Americans. UNLV's football rivals include Nevada, with whom UNLV plays in the annual Battle for Nevada in which the winner is awarded the Fremont Cannon and BYU, because of the large Mormon population in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Famous Rebels football players include Randall Cunningham, Suge Knight, Kenny Mayne, Keenan McCardell, Adam Seward, and Ickey Woods. In July 2010 legendary figure John Robinson officially became the first UNLV player or head coach enshrined into the College Football Hall of Fame. The Rebels practice on campus at the largest football practice facility in the country, Bill "Wildcat" Morris Rebel Park at Ernie Becker, Sr. Football Fields. In 2010, the Rebels began practicing on the same brand of synthetic turf used by the NFL's New Orleans Saints in the Superdome and on the fields at Ohio State and Boise State. The new turf was installed on both of the facility's 100-yard lighted fields. The Rebels also received a major renovation to their on-campus locker room located inside the Lied Athletic Complex. Named after the late coach Bill Ireland, the locker room features 114 custom-made player lockers along with a new player lounge area.