Kinnick Stadium - Features

Features

The playing surface is currently synthetic Field Turf, although it was AstroTurf from 1972 until grass was reinstalled for the 1989 through 2008 seasons. The installation of artificial turf came at the same time that Iowa Stadium was renamed Kinnick Stadium in honor of the Heisman winner who had perished 29 years earlier.

When filled to capacity, Kinnick Stadium would be the fifth-largest city in Iowa (after Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, and Sioux City).

The stadium does not have field lights; the school contracts Musco Lighting's portable light trucks for night games. By capacity, Kinnick Stadium is the 27th largest college football stadium, the 42nd largest sports stadium in the United States, and the 86th largest sports stadium in the world.

Kinnick Stadium is well known for its pink visitors' locker rooms, a tradition started by emeritus Iowa coach Hayden Fry. Believing that pink would put opponents in a "passive mood", and because he thought that some believed pink was a "sissy color", Fry had the visiting locker rooms decorated completely in the color pink.

One thing we didn't paint black and gold was the stadium's visitors locker room, which we painted pink. It's a passive color, and we hoped it would put our opponents in a passive mood. Also, pink is often found in girls' bedrooms, and because of that some consider it a sissy color. —Hayden Fry, Hayden Fry: A High Porch Picnic, p. 102

The pink locker room tradition has been continued with the newly renovated locker rooms, which include everything from pink urinals to pink lockers. Controversy flared during the 2005 season when a visiting law professor, along with other university faculty and students protested the pink coloration as demeaning to women and homosexuals. Despite these protests and with lots of student support, however, the locker room remains pink.

A more recent feature is the 20-foot-tall (6.1 m) bronze statue of Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick, the statue depicts Kinnick dressed as a scholar, rather than in his football uniform. The bronze statue is placed near the team entrance to the stadium. When the renovation of the stadium was completed, and the statue unveiled, a tradition among the players began: one player, before entering the locker room, reached out and touched the helmet that was placed at Kinnick's feet. From that point on, all Iowa players, before entering the locker room, and after getting off the bus, walk up to the statue and rub the helmet, as a token of respect for Kinnick - the only Iowa player to ever win the Heisman Trophy.

The on-field entrances to the stadium all have one thing in common, a picture of Nile Kinnick is placed above the tunnel before exiting the tunnel to the field.