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

Mentioning how the shape of Autzen Stadium helped it reach this achievement is really interesting to be able to know how it was able to achieve this! Also adding in how loud it was in decibels helped to be able to understand just how loud it was.

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This is true, according to the Register-Guard Autzen stadium is louder than any place in the Big Ten. When playing Ohio State, the stadium filled up to 60,129 thousand people and it was a roar of cheering which made it difficult for the visiting team. Ohio State quarterback Will Howard stated that,"I thought it was a smaller stadium, but it got loud. I don't know what it was about the shape of the stadium, but it got very loud on the field, especially down there at the end."

https://www.registerguard.com/story/sports/college/football/2025/01/15/louder-than-a-jet-what-makes-autzen-stadium-challenging-for-opponents/77590441007/#:~:text=“The%20Big%20Ten's%20loudest%20stadium,Autzen%20Stadium%20has.%20...

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This fact check is accurate. It is also well written because it provides a good source, data, and extended information on why the volume is so high.

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This claim is technically factually true, the stadium reached an all-time high for one of the top 5 loudest stadiums at 127 decibels. Also, the way that Autzen is structured with its deep seating arrangements, it can trap sound, amplifying crown noise and creating a sound bubble.
    Staples, A. (2014, September 5). Stadium spotlight: Autzen Stadium, Oregon. Sports Illustrated. https://www.si.com/college/2014/09/05/stadium-spotlight-autzen-stadium-oregon

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I can attest that in my opinion, Autzen is the loudest stadium, from my own experience being in Autzen quite a few times. You and I both wrote about the noise level that Autzen reached during it's 2024 Home game vs Ohio State. I like how you talked about the design and shape of Autzen, that is something that I also incorporated within my own response when fact-checking this claim. Overal I really like your analysis.

Answer 1

This claim is true. Not only did the stadium put up a top five record of 127 decibels, but it is also built in a way that is made to keep noise inside of the stadium. According to Sports Illustrated the field at Autzen stadium is sunken, which creates a "bubble of noise". 

Answer 2

The claim “Autzen Stadium is the loudest stadium in the Big 10” is not necessarily true. An article published in Sports Illustrated titled, Oregon Ducks' Autzen Stadium Earning Reputation In Big Ten: Loudest In College Football?, by Bri Amarathus states, “Without official decibel levels from 2024, Autzen Stadium cannot earn the loudest stadium in college football title. However, there is no doubt the hostile environment has impacted the game” (Amarathus 2024). This proves how statistically, there is no true evidence to prove the stadium was the record loudest, the fans are just known to be big supporters with the highest energy. Another article in the Register Guard, titled, Louder than a jet at takeoff: What makes Autzen Stadium challenging for opposing teams, by Chris Hansen, interviewed Josh Pate, a national college football analyst for CBS Sports and 247 Sports, where he claimed, “The Big Ten’s loudest stadium is in Eugene, Oregon” (Pate 2025). Pate’s opinion proves the claim of Autzen being the loudest is an opinion of everyone. While it seems true and valid, there is no actual record of the level of soundness compared to other stadiums to really prove the claim. Therefore, this claim is opinion based, not truly factual. 

 

Hersh, Matt. "Oregon Ducks' Autzen Stadium Earning Reputation as Big Ten's Loudest, Most Hostile." Sports Illustrated, 12 Feb. 2025, www.si.com/college/oregon/football/oregon-ducks-autzen-stadium-earning-reputation-big-ten-loudest-college-football-hostile-dan-lanning-eugene. 

"‘Louder Than a Jet’: What Makes Autzen Stadium Challenging for Opponents." The Register-Guard, 15 Jan. 2025, www.registerguard.com/story/sports/college/football/2025/01/15/louder-than-a-jet-what-makes-autzen-stadium-challenging-for-opponents/77590441007/.

Answer 3

The website that Factcheck got their data from is Sports Illustrated. Bri Amaranthus is the author, she is an Emmy-winning sports reporter with over 12 years of experience in television, radio, podcasting, and digital sports journalism. The sports illustrated article is claiming, the Oregon vs Ohio State game broke the Autzen Stadium record for attendance, with 60,129 fans in attendance. The article claims that “Autzen Stadium is in a league of its own with a top-five highest-ever recorded level of 127 decibels in college football.” the claim says that Autzen is the loudest stadium in the Big 10. Other articles such as, “Louder than a Jet at Takeoff: What Makes Autzen Stadium Challenging for Opposing Teams,” by The Register-Guard agree with these statements. I would say that this claim, is valid.

https://www.registerguard.com/story/sports/college/football/2025/01/15/louder-than-a-jet-what-makes-autzen-stadium-challenging-for-opponents/77590441007/

 

Answer 4

This claim is correct. This last year Autzen Stadium broke its own attendance record with 60,129 fans. With this many fans it expected we were going to be loud and according to CBS Sports college football analyst Josh Pate “This place is louder than any other venue in the Big Ten, including places with 30 and 40,000 more seats capacity than Autzen Stadium has”. https://athlonsports.com/college/ducks-digest/josh-pate-on-autzen-stadium-this-place-is-louder-than-any-other-venue-in-the-big-ten So if you put that into perspective imagine how much louder we would be if we did have a similar capacity to other stadiums. 

Even Ohio State quarterback, Will Howard make a comment that “it was a tough place to play” and “I was impressed. I’m not going to lie. It was a loud place to play”. 

In the end Autzen has earned its title of being the loudest stadium in the Big Ten Conference and even up there nationally. 

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

Answer 5

This is true. According to Sports Illustrated, Autzen stadium's build and shape alters the noise levels within the stadium, amplifying the sound of the crowd. During the OSU vs. UO game, there were 60 thousand people in attendance and the sound from the crowd reached 127 decibels. That volume is in the top 5 loudest in recorded college football history.

https://www.si.com/college/oregon/football/oregon-ducks-ohio-state-deafening-autzen-stadium-breaks-attendance-record-tez-johnson-dan-lanning-ryan-day#:~:text=However%252C%2520on%2520a%2520per%252Dperson,127%2520decibels%2520in%2520college%2520football.&text=%E2%80%9CThis%2520place%2520is%2520so%2520special.

Answer 6

The Oregon vs Ohio State game was able to reach 126.3 decibels, that came with another record of 60,129 people in attendance. Due to the shape of the stadium, this has become the loudest stadium in the Big Ten.

Answer 7

This fact check is true. Alongside mentioning the units of decibels of 127 and what CBS college football expert Josh Pate had to state, the statement provides good detail furthering why it's factually correct. In the article linked below, he mentions that he has visited all of the Big Ten stadiums, and even though Oregon's stadium isn't the biggest with 60,129 in attendance, it's home advantage in the stadium makes it the loudest. 

Josh Pate on Autzen Stadium: 'This Place Is Louder Than Any Other Venue in the Big Ten' - Athlon Sports

Having a person that has personally experienced all the stadiums in the Big Ten and stating that Oregon has the loudest stadium is a vital source since his personal experience shows trustworthy evidence.

Answer 8

When the Oregon Ducks played the Ohio State Buckeyes in October of 2024, Autzen stadium reached a decibel level of 127. The game was one of the biggest of the year, and possibly the biggest one Autzen stadium has ever seen-- recording a record of attendance of a little more than 60,000 people. When looking at historic decibel records around the Big 10, none of reached that of Autzen stadium in October of 2024. Partially attributed to the geometric shape of Autzen reflecting the noise onto the field, Autzen stadium was LOUD, the loudest a Big 10 stadium has ever seen in recent history.

https://www.registerguard.com/story/sports/college/football/2025/01/15/louder-than-a-jet-what-makes-autzen-stadium-challenging-for-opponents/77590441007/

https://www.dispatch.com/story/sports/college/2024/10/12/autzen-stadium-oregon-capacity-decibels-location-ohio-state/75606287007/

Answer 9

This claim is true. There have been several articles saying that the Oregon Ducks have raised the bar for the loudest crowd. According to The Spun, the stadium had a record-breaking 60,129 people in the stands, causing Autzen to reach 126.3 decibels. SI writes that the layout of Autzen helps amplify the noise, further proving the claim.

https://www.si.com/college/2014/09/05/stadium-spotlight-autzen-stadium-oregon

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

https://www.registerguard.com/story/sports/college/football/2025/01/15/louder-than-a-jet-what-makes-autzen-stadium-challenging-for-opponents/77590441007/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20Big%20Ten's%20loudest%20stadium,Autzen%20Stadium%20has.%20

Answer 10

After conducting a bit of research to find quantitative data to either support or refute this claim, I found an article by Sports Illustrated that ranks the loudest stadiums in the Big10 by highest recorded decibels. Autzen Stadium is ranked at Number 2, maxing out at 127 decibels, which falls juts short of the 130 decibels achieved by LSU's Tiger Stadium. This claim isn't entirely accurate since Autzen is the second loudest stadium by numbers, it is one of the loudest in the Big10.

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