You’ve seen the memes. It’s always something grandiose and uniquely American followed by the quote “The European mind cannot comprehend this”… most of the time, it has to do with sports, but there are the occasional military clips and photos that make their way into the humorous narrative.
It is especially true when it comes to college football. Recently, thefieldrush on Instagram pointed out that eight of the 10 stadiums in the world, not just the U.S., but the entire globe, are home to American college football programs.
That says a lot about the passionate fans that have made this sport, with all of its quirks, over-the-top debates that are fundamentally defined as bickering and now a period of great change, the monster that it has become.
Also, the largest stadium in the world is said to be Rungrado 1st of May Stadium in North Korea with a capacity of 150,000. Who knows how accurate that number really is given that it is… well, you know, North Korea and all.
Here’s the top 10- all of these stadiums have a capacity of more than 100,000.
1- Rungrado 1st of May Stadium (North Korea) – 150,000
2- Narendra Modi Stadium (India) – 132,000
3- Michigan Stadium (Michigan Wolverines)- 107,601
4- Beaver Stadium (Penn State Nittany Lions)- 106,572
5- Ohio Stadium (Ohio State Buckeyes)- 102,780
6- Kyle Field (Texas A&M Aggies)- 102,733
7- Tiger Stadium (LSU Tigers)- 102,321
8- Neyland Stadium (Tennessee Volunteers)- 101,915
9- Bryant-Denny Stadium (Alabama Crimson Tide)- 101,821
10- Darrell K. Royal Stadium (Texas Longhorns)- 100,119
These days the debate in college football is more about which of the top two power four conferences is better- the Big Ten or SEC- than if those are the top two leagues. A lot of that has to do with financial resources facilitated by fanbase size, which in turn makes those conferences highly valuable to the television executives that spend millions of dollars on the broadcast rights. So it’s no surprise that every one of these eight stadiums is the home to a program that resides in one of those two leagues.
The Big Ten has the three largest with Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State leading the way. Those are three of the bluest of bloods in the sport and the Wolverines and Buckeyes have won the last two National Championships. Many have the Nittany Lions as their preseason No. 1 for 2025. After that, it’s all SEC and of course the two Texas schools (they say everything is bigger in Texas, right) rank No. 6 and 10 on the list.
Week 1 features the Longhorns traveling to the No. 5 stadium on this list to play Ohio State (Noon, FOX). Texas is the preseason No. 1 in the coaches poll while the Buckeyes are No. 2. There will surely be an enormous crowd in Columbus for that one.
That may be one to show your European friends.
