John O'Quinn Field at Robertson Stadium is a sports stadium in Houston, Texas located on the campus of the University of Houston. It is the
current home of the University of Houston Cougars football and women's soccer teams, as well as Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer,
which began play in the 2006 season. The stadium also hosted the Houston Oilers during the first five years of their existence from 1960–1964.
The current capacity of Robertson Stadium is 32,000.
History
The stadium was originally constructed as a joint project between the Houston Independent School District and the WPA. Completed in 1942 and
originally seating 20,500, the structure was originally named the "Houston Public School Stadium." The University of Houston played its home
football games there from 1946–1950 before moving to Rice Stadium in 1951 and then to the Astrodome in 1965. In 1958, the school district
renamed the stadium "Jeppesen Stadium" for school board member Holger Jeppeson, who had vigorously lobbied for its construction. Corbin J.
Robertson, former UH Board of Regents member and Athletics Committee Chairman, funded its renovation in 1970 and the stadium was given to
the University of Houston as a venue for its renowned track and field team. It was renamed "Robertson Stadium" in 1980 in his honor.
UH ended its lease agreement to hold home football games at the Astrodome prior to the 1998 season, moving the entire home slate of games
back to campus for the first time since 1964. The stadium was heavily renovated in 1999 to bring it up to NCAA Division 1-A standards for football
venues. The playing surface was lowered nine feet and the running track eliminated to facilitate the addition of new seating on the sidelines and
end zones. A total of twenty luxury suites were also constructed above both sides of the stadium. The playing field itself was named in honor of
Houston attorney John O'Quinn, a donor to the project, thus modifying its official name to John O'Quinn Field at Robertson Stadium.
Several improvements were made in 2006 thanks in part to a $1.7 million donation from the Houston Dynamo. The lighting system was upgraded
and a new scoreboard and JumboTron were added. This was completed in August 2006.
The university has hired the architecture firm of Leo A. Daly to assess the stadium and develop a plan for the long-term improvement of the
facility. Plans have been proposed to replace the end zone sections with an integrated bowl and add an upper deck that would increase capacity
to 50,000, but there is no immediate impetus to begin construction.
More recently, long-rumored plans of an endzone facility including locker rooms, offices, retail space, and luxury boxes have progressed to the
fundraising stage. In April of 2007 preliminary renderings of the new facility were displayed to high level Cougar Pride members. Planning appears
to be in the very late stages and an official announcement should come soon.
The largest attendance for a single game at Robertson Stadium was established on December 1, 2006 when 31,818 people watched the NCAA
Conference USA Football Championship game between the Cougars and the University of Southern Mississippi.
