It’s one of the loudest stadiums in college football, making headlines during the 2024 season for shocking Big Ten Conference opponents with it’s intimidating atmosphere. However, Autzen Stadium, the home of the Oregon Ducks, often gets overlooked due to it’s location way out West and Oregon’s perceived lack of storied football history compared to legendary East coast programs. This week, one football analyst is arguing that Autzen deserves its reverence.
Joel Klatt, a FOX Sports analyst, recently claimed on his podcast “The Joel Klatt Show: a CFB Pod” that the Ducks hold one of the most underrated stadiums in college football. He listed the Ducks’ venue as his fourth most underrated stadium.
“Autzen I don’t think gets its due because everyone just talks about the big stadiums. Oh, LSU at night, and The Shoe, and The Big House, and Bama and Athens and all of these places.’ And yea, those places are great, but underrated, I think Autzen Stadium, for being just under 60,000 people, it gets loud, it’s phenomenal up there,” Klatt said.
What are the most underrated venues in CFB?@joelklatt shares his picks 🏟️ pic.twitter.com/5XVGhsAb0P
— The Joel Klatt Show: A CFB Pod (@JoelKlattShow) February 17, 2025
Along with Autzen Stadium, Klatt also said that Husky Stadium for the University of Washington, Folsom Field of the Colorado Buffaloes, and Kinnick Stadium of the Iowa Hawkeyes were also his selections, with Kinnick being his top pick for the most underrated football venue in the NCAA.
For Duck fans, Autzen getting its’ flowers is no surprise. When the Ducks defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes during a regular season 32-31 nailbiter at Autzen, several photos of Buckeye fans plugging their ears or complaining about the deafening screams of Duck fans went viral. 60,129 fans attended that game, which was an Autzen Stadium record.
“That was the loudest stadium I’ve ever played in,” Ohio State quarterback Will Howard said after the game. “I played at Texas, Oklahoma….No question, Oregon, 65 thousand that was…I don’t know if they were pumping in crowd noise.”
Loudest I’ve heard Autzen Stadium in my life. #goducks #gobucks https://t.co/nmRoMS2zpf pic.twitter.com/evIPkWRXH7
— Bri Amaranthus (@BriAmaranthus) October 13, 2024
“Well, you know, you hear it for a whole offseason about how special this place is. And you’re kind of sitting there saying, ‘You know, I’ve been in some great environments, come on.’ It lived up to every expectation,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said on the Colin Cowherd show before the 2024 season got underway.
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.@JoshPateCFB ranks the Top 5 LOUDEST ATMOSPHERES in college football:
1. Neyland Stadium
2. 👀👀
3. Autzen Stadium
4. 👀👀
5. Bryant-Denny Stadium pic.twitter.com/Y7lZxfvtbh— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) October 14, 2024
For those that might not know the history of how Autzen Stadium came to be, the Ducks’ home was built in 1967 within nine months on an artificial landfill (which is why seagulls are often seen flying above the stadium). Construction cost around $2.3million, with the son of Portland lumberman and philanthropist Thomas J. Autzen contributing $250,000 to the project. Fun fact, Thomas J. Autzen, whom the stadium was named after, is actually an Oregon State Beaver alumnus.
The large yellow “O” on the south side of the stadium didn’t get installed until 2007, when ESPN’s College Gameday show shot on location in Eugene.
Autzen Stadium received renovations in 1982 ($650,000), 1988 ($2.3 million), 2002 ($90 million), 2008 (new video screen “DuckVision”), 2014 (concessions upgrades), and 2020 with the installation of the largest video board in college football.
Not too shabby for “That Team Out West”.
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