EAST LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Michigan State University will celebrate 100 years of Spartan Stadium in 2023 celebrating the stadium all season long. With that, the Spartans will play a feature game on Black Friday at Ford Field against Penn State.

Spartan Stadium will open its 100th season on September 1 against Central Michigan. A website has been dedicated to the history of the stadium at www.msuspartans.com/SpartanStadium100. This site has historical  photos, top games played, video highlights, and top moments in Spartan Stadium. A specific logo was designed for this season to commemorate the 100 years and their six national championships won.

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The athletic department has plans to unveil top moments on social media throughout the season and have votes for their all-time favorite games.

The first games were played in 1923 with four opponents in a stadium that held 13,000 seats. Spartan Stadium now has a capacity for 75,000.

To add more excitement in Michigan, the MSU/Penn State game has been moved to Ford Stadium on Black Friday during Thanksgiving. This will bring together the MHSAA State Championships and will have four straight days of football at Ford Stadium. This will be the final game of the season for MSU as it will be on NBC’s Peacock in the PrimeTime showcase of 7:30 p.m.

MSU Vice President and Director of Athletics Alan Haller said, “This is a unique opportunity, for both our football program and our fan base, to play a Black Friday game at Ford Field. Southeast Michigan is home to 100,000 alums, nearly 50 percent of our student body and countless more Spartan fans. Our men’s basketball team has experienced tremendous support in Detroit, both at Ford Field and Little Caesars Arena, and we’re excited to bring Spartan Football to our fans in the Motor City. The city is important to our mission not only as an athletic department, but our entire University. We anticipate that the experience will be so much more than a football game for our Spartan faithful.”

The Big Ten approached MSU about the change for a nationally televised game on a Friday night. MSU then approached Ford Field with the idea and both moved quickly to make the big game happen during the MHSAA State Championships.

Head coach Mel Tucker finished with, “This is an exciting opportunity for our program to play in prime time on a holiday weekend. Our players will be able to compete in an NFL environment while being showcased in the national spotlight. I’m looking forward to our fans creating a loud atmosphere and giving us a home-field advantage at Ford Field.”