Autzen is the loudest stadium in the Big Ten

Question

In the Ohio State vs. Oregon game, the stadium reached up to 127 decibels, one of the top five highest recorded volumes in college football. The stadium is designed with a convex shape, so the crowd's cheers bounce right back down to the field. College football show host and avid Penn State fan Josh Pate said that it’s the loudest stadium within the Big Ten. He has been on the field at stadiums to experience it firsthand, and it’s incomparable.

Comments

This is super interesting! I liked how you included that the stadium is shaped to maximize the sound, which is a main reason as to why it got so loud. Go Ducks!

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Your understanding of the architectural design of the stadium really boosts the credibility of your fact checking. It really puts it into perspective how the audience can perceive the volume to be the loudest in the nation, when really our stadium is just designed to enhance the experience.

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I love how you added not only a credible link, but your own understanding as to why that evidence makes sense!

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I thought you did a great job on this fact check. You added some very insightful information and then added data to back the claim. I also thought it was really interesting to hear that another teams fan Josh Pate agreed and said that when he was at Autzen stadium was the loudest in the big ten. I also thought it was great you added some information on the architecture of the stadium. Great job on this, and Go Ducks!

Answer 1

This is true. After looking into it, it seems Oregon snuck it's way to the top with this last game. Even being the one of the smallest stadiums in the big ten, we were still able to produce a whopping 127 decibels. Right behind Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge who put out 130 decibels.

https://www.si.com/college/oregon/football/ranking-top-10-loudest-college-football-stadiums-oregon-ducks-autzen-stadium-too-low-lsu-tigers-penn-state

Comments

Yes indeed! Though the stadium is smaller in size the shape of it does all of the work! It creates an outstanding acoustic leading to loud roars and cheers.

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As a UO student, I absolutely believe it. Football games sure do get loud. Pretty crazy though!

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I completely agree. Of course it isn't even close to the biggest stadium in college football, the smaller size and the specific shape of the stadium create unique acoustics that allow for an extremely high decibel number. You used a great source, too.

Answer 2

It would be interesting to find out the effects this has on the players/coaches who are in this environment constantly. Repeated exposure to sounds above 85 decibels are not recommended. Since Autzen has reached the second highest decibel level behind LSU's Tiger Stadium in Death Valley, a study about hearing loss on football players would be intriguing. Especially for fans about how to be prepared to be in that type of stadium.

Answer 3

The Oregon v.s. Ohio State game made history with an Autzen stadium record beating attendance of 60,129 people. The crowd was able to break yet another record, topping a whopping 126 decibels.

https://thespun.com/college-football/oregons-crowd-made-autzen-stadium-history-against-ohio-state

Comments

This is such an awesome record to break, along with the amount of people in the stadium. I think adding the shape of the stadium was super important because it was a big contributor to the sound.

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I believe I saw it reach 129 at the game on the jumbotron, and as it's even louder on the field it was probably around 130-135 decibels at the peak. The stadium is also sunk into the ground and is shaped like a pringle to trap sound inside by bouncing sound waves off the field and seats around the stadium, amplifying the noise as it gets louder. This differs greatly from other stadiums around the country with almost 40-50,000 more people, as the maximum capacity is just around 60-70,000 in Autzen yet can output such an immense amount due to the design and of course the FANS.

Answer 4

This claim is in fact true. After looking up Autzen stadium several articles touched on the fact Autzen stadium was designed to waste little space and fans could be closer together, meaning the design would generate a louder crowd. This is what one of the designers of the Autzen stadium remodel, Christopher Mitchell told in an interview with sports illustrated. Found here: https://www.si.com/college/2014/09/05/stadium-spotlight-autzen-stadium-oregon#:~:text=%E2%80%9CIt%20is%20like%20a%20double,All%20the%20energy%20is%20concentrated.%E2%80%9D&text=With%20just%20one%20deck%20that,of%20glassed%2Din%20luxury%20seating

It is no news that Autzen stadium is loud but after The Oregon vs Ohio state game, it has been confirmed that they are the loudest stadium in the top 10. Taking a look at an article  by Mark Lantz, a sports broadcaster for Sports Illustrated. We can see Autzen stadium placed at number 2 at 127 decibels but LSU who takes up number 1 at 130 decibels is not in the Big Ten according to NBC https://www.nbc.com/nbc-insider/which-teams-are-in-the-big-ten-in-the-2024-football-season 

Therefore Autzen stadium remains the loudest stadium in the Big Ten. Article: https://www.si.com/college/oregon/football/ranking-top-10-loudest-college-football-stadiums-oregon-ducks-autzen-stadium-too-low-lsu-tigers-penn-state 

Comments

Thank you for clarifying that LSU is not in the Big Ten. In a previous answer, a user made it seem like Autzen is the 2nd loudest stadium because it didn't mention that LSU wasn't in the Big Ten. I like that you included links and key people in the subject! I wonder what was the previous decibel record for stadium in the Big Ten. Has Autzen always been the loudest since it joined the Big Ten?

Answer 5

This claim is true. The article included from Oregon Ducks on SI, highlights the Oregon vs. Ohio State football game where Oregon fans cheered and screamed so loud that the decibel level reached 127, which is the highest it has ever been in college football history. Another source backing up this claim comes from Oregonlive.com, and the article states “Autzen was named the loudest stadium in the country and 10th-rowdiest overall”. With statistics and many other articles saying the same thing, this claim stands true. 

Oregonian/OregonLive, J. F. | T. (2024, October 10). Oregon’s Autzen, Oregon State’s reser rank among college football’s rowdiest stadiums. oregonlive. https://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/2024/10/oregons-autzen-oregon-states-reser-rank-among-college-footballs-rowdiest-stadiums.html#:~:text=Autzen%20Stadium%20and%20Reser%20Stadium,was%20judged%20the%2041st%2Drowdiest.  

Answer 6

Autzen stadium is in fact the loudest stadium in the big 10. During the Oregon vs. Ohio State game, the attendance record was broken with a crowd of 60,126 and topping the record of reaching 127 decibels. Articles also claim that the stadium was built for fans to be closer together to generate more noise and high volumes. 

https://www.si.com/college/2014/09/05/stadium-spotlight-autzen-stadium-oregon#:~:text=%E2%80%9CIt%20is%20like%20a%20double,All%20the%20energy%20is%20concentrated.%E2%80%9D&text=With%20just%20one%20deck%20that,of%20glassed%2Din%20luxury%20seating

https://www.si.com/college/oregon/football/ranking-top-10-loudest-college-football-stadiums-oregon-ducks-autzen-stadium-too-low-lsu-tigers-penn-state

Answer 7

The claim that Autzen is the loudest stadium in the Big Ten is true. However, Autzen isn't the biggest stadium in the Big Ten, as it has around 60,000 fans. But what makes it the loudest stadium in the Big Ten is the way the stadium amplifies noise. One of the  authors for the Oregonian, Ryan Clarke said "Saturday was the loudest sports atmosphere I’ve ever been in, from Damian Lillard’s series-winner against Oklahoma City to the Portland Thorns winning a NWSL championship to a litany of other big Duck games while growing up during the height of the Marcus Mariota era." That shows how loud it got when Oregon played Ohio St., as it said they set a record of 127 decibels. Another article by Sports Illustrated rated Autzen Stadium as the number 2 stadium in College Football, only behind LSU. The article also states that "Simply put, on a per-person basis, Ducks fans make more noise than just about anybody." That quote just shows that the fans are also very loud and might be the loudest, which is what makes the crowd noise so loud of opposing players. 

-https://www.si.com/college/oregon/football/ranking-top-10-loudest-college-football-stadiums-oregon-ducks-autzen-stadium-too-low-lsu-tigers-penn-state

-https://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/2024/10/oregon-ducks-mailbag-is-autzen-the-loudest-stadium-in-college-football.html

 

Answer 8

This claim seems to be false, as in this article it states the record decibel level recorded at Autzen is 127, while fellow Big 10 school Washington recorded 133.6 decibels in 1992. 

https://www.si.com/college/oregon/football/ranking-top-10-loudest-college-football-stadiums-oregon-ducks-autzen-stadium-too-low-lsu-tigers-penn-state

Answer 9

Eugene’s Autzen Stadium only hosts a smaller amount of 60,000 people compared to the biggest stadium in college football, Michigan’s Ann Arbor (107,601). Despite its small capacity, it has a very unique design that was created to amplify the noise inside. As the Michigan Daily points out, Autzen Stadium is “shaped like an amphitheater,” which certainly helps the Ducks “get the most out of the noise its fans make.” This claim refers to the matchup against the Ducks and the Wolverines in 2003 here in Eugene. In an article by the Autzen Zoo, they reference a report from KVAL which reads, “the home of the Ducks has seen a decibel level as high as 127.2 decibels.” This is extremely loud. Autzen stadium is still able to compete alongside major Big Ten stadiums and produce a whopping amount of sound. In the most recent Ohio State and Oregon matchup, Ohio State quarterback mentioned the difficulty of playing in Autzen. “It’s a tough place to play,” Howard said. “For me, I thought it was a smaller stadium but it got loud. I don’t know what it was about the shape the stadium but it got very loud on the field, especially down there at the end. I think the fact that it was a really good game the whole time kind of kept them in it and credit to them man, they had a good atmosphere." The Ohio State stadium seats an extremely large amount of 102,780 so for Howard to acknowledge the loudness of the stadium in this game, you can see how Autzen has one of the most lively and noisy atmospheres in college football. However, while Autzen may not win loudest stadium in college football title, they are definitely making a name for themselves as future contenders. 

https://www.si.com/college/oregon/football/oregon-ducks-autzen-stadium-earning-reputation-big-ten-loudest-college-football-hostile-dan-lanning-eugene

https://autzenzoo.com/posts/how-loud-is-autzen-stadium

https://www.si.com/college-football/10-biggest-college-football-stadiums-01j6jnfnadq4

Answer 10

The initial claim of this post is that Autzen Stadium in Eugene Oregon is the loudest stadium (by decibel) in the Big10 conference.

Following Oregons recent matchup versus Ohio State several articles were published toting Oregons stadium, Autzen Field, as the loudest stadium in the Big10. These claims were made based on the measurement of decibels taken during the game. According to this article written by Mark Lantz, a sports broadcaster for Sports Illustrated, Autzen reached a recorded decibel level of 127. This would place Oregon as not only the loudest stadium in the Big10, but consistently ranked within the top 5 loudest stadiums in all of CFB, as per sites like Mike Farrell Sports, and BetMGM.

The volume of Autzen Stadium comes as no surprise to Christopher Mitchell of AECOM, one of the architects on the Autzen remodel, who told Sports Illustrated in 2014 the bowl shape of Autzen lends itself to a roaring ambiance, “It is like a double-sided amphitheater,” he says. “All the energy is concentrated.” 

In summary, the initial claim of the post that Autzen Stadium has produced one of the highest recorded decibels in CFB history as well as leading the Big10 in volume is verifiably true.