Now in its 77th season of use as Purdue's football playing field, Ross-Ade Stadium carries the distinction of being the only stadium in the Big Ten Conference always to have featured "real grass." What many observers have described as the playing surface of the future, Prescription Athletic Turf (P.A.T.) gives Ross-Ade Stadium the most sophisticated gridiron available.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, when most collegiate stadiums were being converted to "artificial turf," two Purdue staffers, Dr. W.H. Daniel and Melvin Robey, developed P.A.T., installing it in the stadium in the spring of 1975 at a cost of approximately $125,000. It since has been resodded four times, most recently in May of 1990.
Advertised to be the perfect compromise between Mother Nature's own and artificial turf, P.A.T. can keep the field playable and virtually divot-proof even during a storm dumping one inch of rain per hour.
A network of pipes connected to pumps capable of sucking water from the turf or watering it make the system work. The pipes are located 16 inches from the surface and covered with a mixture of sand and filler.
Purdue's P.A.T. field has been a model for more than 30 institutions around the country.
The new system and an increase of more than 54,000 seats over the original blueprint of Ross-Ade Stadium reflects the growth of Purdue football.
The stadium's original 1924 seating capacity was 13,500 (with standing room for an additional 5,000 fans). Six expansions plus end zone bleacher seating eventually raised it to 69,200. Without the temporary seats, capacity is 67,332 - the second-largest football stadium in the state of Indiana.
The stadium has undergone several major revampings.
In 1949 Purdue expanded the stadium to over 51,000 by soliciting $300-memberships in the Ross-Ade Foundation in return for lifetime season tickets. Several hundred bleacher seats were removed or revamped in both the 1955 and 1964 construction phases.
Improvement of Ross-Ade's press facility occurred in 1969 and again in 1989. In 1984 an elevator was added to the south end of the press box.
In addition to the improvements in the stands and press box, nearly $500,000 worth of improvements were added in 1985 with the construction of a new visiting locker room facility and vast renovations to the home team locker room. The exterior of the stadium and the press box received a fresh coat of paint in 1988.
In 1990 a $1 million electronic scoreboard and message center on the south end and an auxiliary board on the north end were added.
In the summer of 1994 several changes were made to create a safer environment for spectators and teams. Field-level changes included the removal of the fence around the playing field, removal of the paved walkways around the outer edges of the field and installation of new sod to replace the walk ways.
A Sony JumboTron was retrofitted into the main scoreboard in 1997, replacing the message center. The $3 million facility improvement is owned by Action Sports. It provides live television shots and replays in the stadium from at least four cameras.
The stadium is named for its two principal benefactors, David E. Ross, late president of the Board of Trustees, and the late George Ade, writer, humorist and Purdue alumnus. It was Ross who conceived the idea for the stadium and selected the present site. He and Ade purchased and presented to the University the 65-acre tract on which the stadium is erected.
Ross-Ade Stadium At A Glance
Capacity: 67,332
First Game: Nov. 22, 1924. Stadium was dedicated in a game with Indiana. Purdue defeated the Hoosiers 26-7.
Construction: Steel and concrete
Number of Rows: There are 73 rows of permanent seats on the east, west, and north banks and 55 rows of seats in the south bank.
Color Scheme: A fiberglass type of seat covering was added to all permanent seats in 1964 to give the stadium an alternating color scheme of gold and black, with the word PURDUE appearing on the north end zone seats.
Press Box: The Robert C. Woodworth Memorial Press Box, named in honor of the former Purdue athletic publicist, was constructed in 1955 and became a four-story facility in 1969 with the addition of decks three and four. Deck one accommodates The Buchanans, a Purdue athletic booster organization. Radio stations occupy the booths on the second deck. All print media and statistical crews are located in the 136-seat third deck.
Goals: North and south (flag and scoreboard at south end)
Record: The Boilermakers have played 359 games in Ross-Ade Stadium, posting a 215-131-13 record.
Top 20 Crowds
| Crowd | Date | Result |
| 71,629 | 11/22/80 | Purdue 24, Indiana 23 |
| 70,567 | 9/22/79 | Purdue 28, Notre Dame 22 |
| 70,007 | 9/26/81 | Purdue 15, Notre Dame 14 |
| 69,958 | 9/12/81 | Purdue 27, Stanford 19 |
| 69,927 | 10/31/81 | Ohio State 45, Purdue 33 |
| 69,918 | 11/25/78 | Purdue 20, Indiana 7 |
| 69,889 | 10/4/80 | Purdue 28, Miami (Ohio) 3 |
| 69,877 | 10/24/81 | Purdue 27, Michigan State 26 |
| 69,846 | 10/10/81 | Purdue 44, Illinois 20 |
| 69,829 | 11/10/79 | Purdue 24, Michigan 21 |
| 69,795 | 9/20/75 | Notre Dame 17, Purdue 0 |
| 69,782 | 9/10/83 | Notre Dame 52, Purdue 6 |
| 69,765 | 9/25/71 | Notre Dame 8, Purdue 7 |
| 69,748 | 11/22/86 | Purdue 17, Indiana 15 |
| 69,745 | 11/20/82 | Indiana 13, Purdue 7 |
| 69,736 | 11/14/81 | Michigan 28, Purdue 10 |
| 69,656 | 10/27/79 | Purdue 20, Northwestern 16 |
| 69,465 | 10/14/78 | Purdue 27, Ohio State 14 |
| 69,413 | 10/13/79 | Purdue 28, Illinois 14 |
| 69,405 | 10/25/75 | Ohio State 35, Purdue 6 |
Top 10 Attendance Averages
| Average | Year | Total (Games) |
| 69,892 | 1981 | 419,351 (6) |
| 69,618 | 1980 | 417,706 (6) |
| 68,966 | 1979 | 413,794 (6) |
| 66,861 | 1982 | 401,166 (6) |
| 65,358 | 1983 | 326,789 (5) |
| 63,424 | 1999 | 380,542 (6) |
| 63,400 | 1985 | 380,399 (6) |
| 63,386 | 1984 | 380,314 (6) |
| 63,116 | 1986 | 378,693 (6) |
| 62,250 | 1978 | 373,504 (6) |
| No. | Date | Result |
| 1 | 11/22/24 | Purdue 26, Indiana 7 |
| 100 | 9/18/65 | Purdue 38, Miami (Ohio) 0 |
| 200 | 11/9/96 | Purdue 9, Michigan 3 |
Ross-Ade Stadium Streaks
