Welcome Stadium

Welcome Stadium is a special place where people can watch sports and other big events. It can hold up to 11,000 people, which is like filling a huge school gym many times over. The stadium is located in Dayton, Ohio, a city in the United States.

The stadium is owned and taken care of by the schools in Dayton. It is mainly used by the University of Dayton Flyers football team and many high schools in the area. This means that students and families come together to cheer for their teams and enjoy exciting games.

Because it is a multi-purpose stadium, it is not just for football. Other sports and events can also be held there, making it a very busy and important place for the community.

History

Welcome Stadium opened in 1949 and serves as the home field for all of Dayton's high schools. Since 1974, it has also hosted the Dayton Flyers football team. Over the years, it has been the venue for important events like the 1961 Aviation Bowl, the Ohio High School State Track and Field finals, and the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. It is also a popular spot for Ohio’s High School marching band finals each October and November, and it was once home to the soccer club Dayton Dynamo.

In 2021, plans were made to improve the stadium. The first phase, finished in 2023, cost $32 million and included updating the old seating areas, fixing the field and track, and building a new Press Tower. Future plans include adding a large field house and a multipurpose field for community use. In 2019, the stadium hosted a training camp for the Cincinnati Bengals as part of celebrating the National Football League's 100th anniversary, honoring the Dayton Triangles. The camp was originally supposed to be at Triangle Park, where the NFL’s first game was played, but the plans changed after finding something unusual during an archaeological survey.