Tucker Stadium in Cookeville, TN

Basic Information

Stadium: Tucker Stadium

Location: Cookeville, TN (36.17811, -85.50615)

Owner: Tennessee Tech University

Primary sport: football

Year constructed: 1966

Listed capacity: 16,500

Date last visited: September 2021

Stadium information: https://www.ttusports.com/inside_athletics/Facilities_Photos/Tucker_Stadium_Page

Summary Review: 2 stars (out of 5)

Tucker Stadium was built in 1966, and other than the video board and the playing surface, it does not seem to have changed much since then.  The all-bench seating is a real killer for people with back issues, and the 9-lane track around the field makes you feel distant from the action.  The gold color scheme on the stands and press box seems more mustard than gold to me.  The layout is odd with the locker rooms under the stands rather than in the end zones.  This layout means that fans and players criss-cross beneath the stands, which overly crowds an area that is rather dark and dismal to begin with.  I did enjoy the stadium's audio and video components; they are first class.  In summary, I still had a decent time here even though this stadium leaves much to be desired.  Tennessee Tech has some enthusiastic fans, and they deserve a better place to watch football than this.

Detailed Review:

Gameday Atmosphere: kind of an odd setting, you see city-like brick campus buildings out of the south end zone and private houses out of the north end zone.  I would love to own one of those houses!  The crowd was decent-sized, but it was engaged more by the audio/video system than by the game itself on the afternoon I came here.

Seating: almost entirely bench seating, and all seats are general admission.  This is rather unusual for FCS football, and not in a good way.

Field View: the track around the field is a problem because it increases the fans' distance from the action.  Most seats give a pretty good view, albeit a distant one.

Audio/Video: the video scoreboard is huge, one of the largest I have seen in FCS.  The sound system has good clarity and volume.  This is easily the strength of this stadium.

Concessions/Hot Dogs: located at several points beneath the stands (more on that in the next point).  They serve only the usual fare.  The hot dogs were a little flavorless and dry.

Pedestrian Flow: the area beneath the stands is a dark, gloomy, tunnel-like area that feels like being in the belly of an iron beast.  The locker rooms are also under the stands!  I had to take a detour to get around the area where the players were getting ready to take the field.  Some extra stairs that descend from the top of the stadium helps to ease traffic flow in the underbelly.

Parking: the campus does not require parking permits on weekends, so you can park literally anywhere.  I parked near the baseball stadium and walked across campus, but there were plenty of closer parking options.