| Built
in 1965 at a cost of $ 3 million, Memphis Memorial
Stadium was constructed as part of the city's Mid-South
Fairgrounds, and was initially dedicated to Memphis'
military service veterans. It was built in part to
provide a permanent home to the Liberty Bowl, a college
bowl game that had moved to Memphis from Philadelphia
(by way of Atlantic City), and shortly after the first
game there the stadium was rechristened the Liberty
Bowl. With
seating for 50,180 at the time Logan Young was awarded
the USFL franchise for Memphis, today the facility
boasts a seating capacity of 62,380 thanks to a 1987
expansion. In the early 1990's this expansion
helped facilitate an effort to get an NFL expansion
franchise, and did help in welcoming the CFL's Memphis
Mad Dogs for a year. The NFL finally came calling
in 1997 when the Houston Oilers relocated, intending to
play two seasons in Memphis while a stadium in Nashville
was being constructed for them. Disgusted at the
thought that the NFL was going to Nashville instead of
Memphis, fans stayed away in droves - and after just a
year the Oilers left, moving into Nashville's Vanderbilt
Stadium rather than play to Memphis crowds that were
smaller than what the Showboats had drawn 15 years
earlier.
On New Years' Day 2007, Memphis mayor Willie Herenton
proposed the Liberty Bowl be replaced with a new,
state-of-the-art stadium.
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LIBERTY
BOWL |
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Memphis,
Tennessee |
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