The Old Gator Bowl

An undated photo with no caption information of a youth football team in the old Gator Bowl. It might be a Police Athletic League team with the police officer in the photo. It is kind of amazing to think about how much the old metal bleacher stadium has evolved since it was built in the late 1920’s as Fairfield Stadium. At the time it had a seating capacity of 7,600. In 1946 the stadium hosted the first Gator Bowl game. In 1948 the capacity was expanded to 16,000 seats and it was renamed the Gator Bowl with more seating added before the 1949 Gator Bowl game. The facility went from being known for hosting one bowl game a year and the Florida vs Georgia football game to being the home of the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL football team with regular seating close to 64,000 which is expanded to over 80,000 once a year for the Florida vs Georgia game.

Tags: 012604, advertising, Coca Cola, EverBank Field, Football, gator bowl, historic photograph, scoreboard, sign, vintage photography, youth