College Football

Florida pays tribute to Steve Spurrier with new and extremely long stadium name

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By Jason Kirk Jun 10, 2016, 9:04am EDT

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Florida’s adding Steve Spurrier’s name to its field and thus its stadium. That is very good.

That also means the full name of the structure is now as follows [hands the mic to Twista]:

Steve Spurrier - Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium

Sweet mercy, that’s a lot of characters. Fifty-eight of them, to be precise. (The "Florida Field" part, which adds the most awkwardness, has been there since 1930. The state itself would tremble in anguish if its name were no longer part of this sod.)

In a sport as old as this, things end up with long names. There are many people to name things after, as the ages roll on. Coaches at Stanford and elsewhere have job titles that sound like NASA research facilities. So, Florida’s new stadium name joins dusty word salads such as the following:

Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium (Kansas State)
Sun Devil Stadium, Frank Kush Field (Arizona State)
Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium (Colorado State)
David A. Harrison III Field at Scott Stadium* (Virginia)
Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium (West Virginia)
Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field (Georgia Tech)
Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium (Oklahoma)
Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium (Florida State)

And the granddaddies of all endlessly resounding nomenclature, the battleship class now joined by Florida’s mouthful:

Houchens Industries-L.T. Smith Stadium at Jimmy Feix Field* (WKU)
Joe Jamail Field at Darrell K. Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium (Texas)
Frank Broyles Field at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium (Arkansas)

Mercy, that’s some thoroughly described architecture! (I’ll update this list as soon as Louisville adds Taco Bell Cardinal Field to Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.)

This sport is pretty good sometimes.

* Added via commenters Paul Wiley and Evan Brown

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