ESPN staff deems LSU's Tiger Stadium the best in college football

When it comes to venues to catch a Saturday game in the fall, very few can even hold a candle to LSU’s Tiger Stadium.

With a capacity over 100,000 and a propensity to draw big-time night games, it’s one of the most feared places to play for visiting opponents. While quite a few stadiums around the country provide a unique home-field advantage, they just don’t make them like they do in Baton Rouge.

ESPN’s staff recently ranked the top 25 stadiums in the country, and it really should come as no surprise to see LSU’s right at the top in the No. 1 spot. Here’s what ESPN’s Chris Low had to say about Tiger Stadium.

Points: 247 (maximum possible is 280)

Soaking up the atmosphere on a Saturday night in Tiger Stadium is pure nirvana for football fans, and it’s hardly just the football game. The food at all the tailgating spots is divine, and we’re talking about dishes from gumbo to shrimp boils to jambalaya being stirred in giant pots by fans hydrating with cold beverages and sporting their purple-and-gold attire (and, yes, beads too).

Mike the Tiger, LSU’s live mascot, roams around in his spacious zoolike enclosure just north of the stadium. He used to hang out on the field in his cage on wheels just outside the opponents’ locker room, but he no longer leaves his habitat to go inside the stadium for games. Having opened in 1924 and now with a capacity of 102,321, Tiger Stadium has been listed as one of “America’s Most Treasured Stadiums” by the Historic Stadium Caucus. And when the Golden Band From Tigerland hits those first four notes upon stepping onto the field for pregame festivities, there’s nothing else quite like it.

Between the tailgating experience before the games and the atmosphere during them, there’s nowhere else that exemplifies what makes college football so special quite like Tiger Stadium.

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