1.
Florida State Seminoles football
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The Florida State Seminoles football team represents Florida State University in the sport of American football. The Florida State Seminoles compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the team is known for its storied history, distinctive helmet, fight song and colors as well as the many traditions associated with the school. They are considered to be one of the most successful football programs ever. Florida State has won three championships, eighteen conference titles and six division titles along with a playoff appearance. The Seminoles have achieved three undefeated seasons and finished ranked in the top four of the AP Poll for 14 straight years from 1987 through 2000, ESPN ranks the 1999 team among the top teams in college football history. The team has produced three Heisman Trophy winners, quarterbacks Charlie Ward in 1993, Chris Weinke in 2000 and Jameis Winston in 2013, the Biletnikoff Award, presented annually to the top receiver in college football, is named for Florida State hall of famer Fred Biletnikoff. Many former Seminoles have gone on to have careers in the NFL. The program has produced 218 All-Americans and 250 professional players, the Seminoles have the tenth-highest winning percentage among all college football programs in Division I FBS history with over 500 victories. Florida State has appeared in postseason bowl games and rank ninth nationally for bowl winning percentage. The Seminoles archrivals are Florida, whom they meet annually in the last game of the regular season, a rivalry with Clemson has developed and grown due to both teams competing yearly for the ACC Atlantic division. Florida State University joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in July 1991, Florida State is considered one of the teams that brought the conference to its pinnacle becoming the overall most successful program in the ACC. Since the ACC expanded from nine to twelve universities in 2005, and instituted divisional play in football, Florida State plays an eight-game ACC football schedule. Six of these contests pit the Seminoles against the members of the ACC Atlantic Division, Boston College, Clemson, Louisville, North Carolina State, Syracuse. Throughout a rotation schedule, Florida State plays each coastal division team at least twice every six years with possible meetings in the game in between regular season meetings. Florida State will also play Notre Dame as a home-and-home twice every six years per a conference agreement, in addition to the conference foes, the Seminoles face in-state rival Florida from the SEC at the end of the regular season. The two teams emergence as perennial football powers in the 1980s and 1990s helped build the Florida–Florida State football rivalry into a game that has held national title implications. Florida State remains the team in the state of Florida to play both powers, Florida and Miami, every year. The remaining dates on Florida States regular season schedule are filled with various non-conference opponents that vary year to year
2.
American football
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The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs, or plays, or else they turn over the football to the opposing team, if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs. Points are primarily scored by advancing the ball into the teams end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponents goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins, American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of association football and rugby football. The first game of American football was played on November 6,1869, during the latter half of the 1870s, colleges playing association football switched to the Rugby Union code, which allowed carrying the ball. American football as a whole is the most popular sport in the United States, Professional football and college football are the most popular forms of the game, with the other major levels being high school and youth football. As of 2012, nearly 1.1 million high school athletes and 70,000 college athletes play the sport in the United States annually, almost all of them men, in the United States, American football is referred to as football. The term football was established in the rulebook for the 1876 college football season. The terms gridiron or American football are favored in English-speaking countries where other codes of football are popular, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, American football evolved from the sports of association football and rugby football. What is considered to be the first American football game was played on November 6,1869 between Rutgers and Princeton, two college teams, the game was played between two teams of 25 players each and used a round ball that could not be picked up or carried. It could, however, be kicked or batted with the feet, hands, head or sides, Rutgers won the game 6 goals to 4. Collegiate play continued for years in which matches were played using the rules of the host school. Representatives of Yale, Columbia, Princeton and Rutgers met on October 19,1873 to create a set of rules for all schools to adhere to. Teams were set at 20 players each, and fields of 400 by 250 feet were specified, Harvard abstained from the conference, as they favored a rugby-style game that allowed running with the ball. An 1875 Harvard-Yale game played under rugby-style rules was observed by two impressed Princeton athletes and these players introduced the sport to Princeton, a feat the Professional Football Researchers Association compared to selling refrigerators to Eskimos. Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Columbia then agreed to play using a form of rugby union rules with a modified scoring system. These schools formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, although Yale did not join until 1879, the introduction of the snap resulted in unexpected consequences. Prior to the snap, the strategy had been to punt if a scrum resulted in bad field position, however, a group of Princeton players realized that, as the snap was uncontested, they now could hold the ball indefinitely to prevent their opponent from scoring. In 1881, both teams in a game between Yale-Princeton used this strategy to maintain their undefeated records, each team held the ball, gaining no ground, for an entire half, resulting in a 0-0 tie
3.
Florida State University
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Florida State University is an American public space-grant and sea-grant research university. Its primary campus is located on a 1,391. 54-acre campus in Tallahassee, Florida and it is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the state of Florida, the university is classified as a Research University with Very High Research by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The university comprises 16 separate colleges and more than 110 centers, facilities, labs and institutes that offer more than 360 programs of study, the university has an annual budget of over $1.7 billion and an annual economic impact of over $10 billion. Florida State is home to Floridas only National Laboratory – the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and is the birthplace of the commercially viable anti-cancer drug Taxol. Florida State University also operates The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Florida State University leads Florida in four of eight areas of external funding for the STEM disciplines, FSU officially launched the Raise the Torch, The Campaign for Florida State on October 17,2014. The campaign has a goal of more than $1 billion which will improve academics, research. As of September 30,2016, Florida State Universitys Raise the Torch campaign has raised $938,972,249, for 2017, U. S. News & World Report ranked Florida State as the 38th best public university in the United States. FSUs intercollegiate sports teams, commonly known by their Florida State Seminoles nickname, compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I, in their 113-year history, Florida States varsity sports teams have won 20 national athletic championships and Seminole athletes have won 78 individual NCAA national championships. In 1819 the Florida Territory was ceded to the United States by Spain as an element of the Adams–Onís Treaty, the Territory was conventionally split by the Appalachicola or later the Suwannee rivers into East and West areas. Florida State University is traceable to a set by the 1823 U. S. Congress to create a system of higher education. The 1838 Florida Constitution codified the system by providing for land allocated for the schools. In 1845 Florida became the 27th State of the United States, in 1851 the Florida Legislature voted to establish two seminaries of higher education on opposite sides of the Suwannee River. Francis W. Eppes and other city leaders established an academy called the Florida Institute in Tallahassee as a legislative inducement to locate the West Florida Seminary in Tallahassee. The East Florida Seminary opened in Ocala in 1853, closed in 1861, the East Florida Seminary is the institution to which the modern University of Florida traces its foundation. Two years later the institution absorbed the Tallahassee Female Academy founded in 1843 as the Misses Bates School, the West Florida Seminary stood near the front of the Westcott Building on the existing FSU campus, making this site the oldest continually used location of higher learning in Florida. In 1860–61 the legislature started formal training at the school with a law amending the original 1851 statute
4.
University of Georgia
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Its primary location is a 762-acre campus adjacent to the college town of Athens, Georgia, approximately an hours drive from the global city of Atlanta. The university has been labeled one of the Public Ivies, a publicly funded university considered to provide a quality of education comparable to those of the Ivy League. The university was founded in 1785 as the United States first state-chartered university and its historic North Campus is on the U. S. National Register of Historic Places as a designated historic district. The contiguous campus areas include rolling hills, gardens, and extensive green space including nature walks, fields, shrubbery, and large and varied arboreta. Close to the campus is the universitys 58-acre Health Sciences Campus that also has an extensive landscaped green space, more than 400 trees. The university offers over 140 degree programs in an array of disciplines. Consisting of thirteen separate libraries, the UGA Libraries rank among the nation’s largest and best research libraries containing 5.7 million volumes, the University of Georgia is one of 126 member institutions that comprise the Association of Research Libraries. The university is organized into seventeen schools and colleges, the university has three primary campuses. The largest one is the campus in Athens that has 460 buildings. The university has two campuses located in Atlanta and Lawrenceville, Georgia. The university operates several service and outreach stations spread across the state, the total acreage of the university in 30 Georgia counties is 41,539 acres. Varsity and intramural student athletics are a part of student life. UGA served as a member of the SEC in 1932. In their 121-year history, the varsity sports teams have won 39 national championships and 130 conference championships. The Georgia Redcoat Marching Band, the marching band of the university, plays at sports. The Senatus Academicus was composed of the Board of Visitors and the Board of Trustees with the Georgia Senate presiding over those two boards, the first meeting of the universitys board of trustees was held in Augusta, Georgia on February 13,1786. The meeting installed its first president, Abraham Baldwin, a native of Connecticut, Baldwin was a delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention, and one of two Georgia delegates to sign the final document. Many features on the University of Georgia campus resemble the campus of Yale, on July 2,1799, the Senatus Academicus met again in Louisville, Georgia and decided that the time was right to open the university
5.
University of Virginia
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The University of Virginia, frequently referred to simply as Virginia, is a public research university and the flagship for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Declaration of Independence author Thomas Jefferson, UVA is known for its foundations, student-run honor code. UNESCO designated UVA as Americas first and only collegiate World Heritage Site in 1987, the university was established in 1819, and its original governing Board of Visitors included Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. Monroe was the sitting President of the United States at the time of its foundation, former Presidents Jefferson and Madison were UVAs first two rectors and the Academical Village and Jefferson conceived and designed the original courses of study. The universitys research endeavors are highly recognized, in 2015, Science honored UVA faculty for discovering two of its top 10 annual scientific breakthroughs, from the fields of Medicine and Psychology. UVA is one of 62 institutions in the Association of American Universities and it is the only AAU member university in Virginia. UVA is classified as a Research University with Very High Research by the Carnegie Foundation, the university was the first non-founding member, and the first university of the American South, to attain AAU membership in 1904. UVAs academic strength is broad, with 121 majors across the eight undergraduate, students compete in 26 collegiate sports and UVA leads the Atlantic Coast Conference in mens NCAA team national championships with 17. UVA is second in womens NCAA titles with 7, UVA was awarded the Capital One Cup in 2015 after fielding the top overall mens athletics programs in the nation. Students come to attend the university in Charlottesville from all 50 states and 147 countries, the historic 1, 682-acre campus is internationally protected by UNESCO and considered one of the most beautiful collegiate grounds in the country. UVA additionally maintains 2,913 acres southeast of the city, the university also manages the College at Wise in Southwest Virginia, and until 1972 operated George Mason University and the University of Mary Washington in Northern Virginia. In 1817, three Presidents and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court John Marshall joined 24 other dignitaries at a meeting held in the Mountain Top Tavern at Rockfish Gap, after some deliberation, they selected nearby Charlottesville as the site of the new University of Virginia. Farmland just outside Charlottesville was purchased from James Monroe by the Board of Visitors as Central College, the school laid its first buildings cornerstone late in that same year, and the Commonwealth of Virginia chartered the new university on January 25,1819. John Hartwell Cocke collaborated with James Madison, Monroe, and Joseph Carrington Cabell to fulfill Jeffersons dream to establish the university, Cocke and Jefferson were appointed to the building committee to supervise the construction. The universitys first classes met on March 7,1825, another innovation of the new university was that higher education would be separated from religious doctrine. Jefferson opined to philosopher Thomas Cooper that a professorship of theology should have no place in our institution, Jefferson was intimately involved in the university to the end, hosting Sunday dinners at his Monticello home for faculty and students until his death. Thus, he eschewed mention of his accomplishments, such as the Louisiana Purchase. This was a source of frustration for Jefferson, who assembled the students during the schools first year, on October 3,1825, to such behavior
6.
Osceola and Renegade
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Osceola and Renegade are the official mascots of the Florida State University Seminoles. Osceola, representing the historical Seminole leader Osceola, and his Appaloosa horse Renegade introduce home football games by riding to midfield with a burning spear, Osceola and Renegade debuted in 1978, and are the most recent of several mascots used by the school. FSU has tried to ensure a dignified depiction of Osceola, the portrayal is supported by leaders of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, but it remains controversial in some quarters. Florida States Osceola tradition is overseen by Allen Durham, whose father, Bill Durham and he carries a feathered spear and is accompanied by Renegade, an appaloosa horse whom he rides bareback. Osceola performs at all football games at Doak Campbell Stadium. He initiates each game by charging Renegade to midfield and hurling a spear into the ground. The Durham family personally selects and trains both the rider and horse, and it coordinates the tradition with oversight by the university. Students portraying Osceola must undertake an apprenticeship, demonstrate necessary riding skill for the role as well as moral character. Students receive a scholarship for portraying Osceola and are required to remain in character, there is only one Osceola impersonator at a time, as of 2014 sixteen students have played the role, with the sixteenth rider currently serving. Florida State University adopted the Seminoles nickname in 1947, just after its reorganization from a college to a coed institution. The moniker was selected through a fan competition, reportedly the newly established football team liked it so much that they stuffed the ballot box to ensure its selection, prior to the introduction of Osceola and Renegade, the Florida State Seminoles used several different Native American-themed mascots. The first was Sammy Seminole, introduced at the FSU Pow Wow in 1958 for football games and this mascot was portrayed by a white male member of the gymnastics or circus programs, who performed wild stunts in garish faux-Native American garb. The gymnastics programs sponsorship of Sammy Seminole ended in 1968, in the late 1960s Chief Fullabull emerged as a mascot during basketball games. Like Sammy Seminole, he donned cartoonish Native American-themed outfits, under protest from Native American groups, the characters name was altered to Chief Wampumstompum, though this did nothing to assuage the concerns of protesters. The character was replaced with a traditionally dressed figure named Yahola. All of these mascots were retired, and officials decided to find a more respectful representative for the schools teams. The Osceola and Renegade mascots were conceived by Bill Durham, a Tallahassee businessman and he came up with the concept of a horseback-riding Seminole mascot as early as 1962, when he was voted into the schools homecoming court. He returned to the idea in 1977, and won the support of Ann Bowden, wife of football coach Bobby Bowden
7.
Marching Chiefs
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The World-Renowned Florida State University Marching Chiefs is the official marching band of the Florida State University. The band has served in capacity since the 1940s and continues to perform at all home football games as well as several away games each year. There are 420+ members, or Chiefs, as members are sometimes known, the first appearance of a formal band was organized in the late 1930s by Charlotte Cooper, Jean Hitchcolk, Allice Ludlaw, and director Owen F. Sellars. The band, which consisted of less than twenty students, performed at the Odds, the following year the Florida Flambeau ran an announcement of try-outs for the now established band. In 1942 Sellars took military leave for World War II and Frank Sykora became the interim director, the same year uniforms were purchased and worn for the first time at the inauguration of Doak S. Campbell as the new college president. 1946 saw the first option for students to take marching band for credit, in 1947 the Florida State College for Women officially became Florida State University and the university was changed to coeducational by an act of the Florida Legislature. With the change to a school came the introduction of a male football team which competed in a five-game season. The marching band performed at the games and practiced on Landis Green under Robert Smith,1949 saw a new director for the band, Robert T. Braungel, and the new, official name of Marching Chiefs. The name was chosen by a survey sponsored by the Student Government Association. The first appearance of the newly christened Marching Chiefs was at Stetson University, Dr. Manley R Whitcomb became the new director of the Marching Chiefs in 1953 after transferring from Ohio State University and joining the FSU faculty. Dr. Whitcomb brought with him a talented young arranger by the name of Charles Carter who became the arranger of the Marching Chiefs. Carters arrangements gave the Marching Chiefs a distinctive style that survives to this day, Whitcomb also brought with him the traditional eight-to-five step, fast marching tempos, and the high step with arm swing now known as Chief Step. The Miami Daily News proclaimed, FSUs bid to Sun Bowl clinched by Marching Chiefs, in the spring of 1955 FSU received a charter of Kappa Kappa Psi honorary band fraternity. The brothers of KKPsi, as the organization is known, produced a newsletter named The Chieftain which aimed to keep band members informed of upcoming events. In 1956 Charlie Carter arranged J. Dayton Smiths The Hymn to the Garnet, the Charlie Carter arrangement had its premier performance at the 1958 homecoming game. The in-state rivalry of the Seminoles and the Gators began with their first match in 1958 and it was not until 1964 that the annual game alternated between schools. 1969 saw the beginning of a new tradition for the Marching Chiefs with the newly created Band Alumni Association putting graduates of the Marching Chiefs onto the field for halftime,1971 was another big year for the Marching Chiefs. It saw Richard Mayo, an FSU alumnus and former drum major, the Marching Chiefs were also finalists in the Best College Marching Band contest on ABC-TV which established their reputation as one of the nations finest marching bands
8.
Tallahassee, Florida
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Tallahassee /ˌtæləˈhæsi/ is the capital of the U. S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2015, the population was 189,907, making the city the 126th-largest city in the United States, the population of the Tallahassee metropolitan area was 377,924 as of 2015. Tallahassee is the largest city in the Northwest Florida region as well as the center for trade and agriculture in the Florida Big Bend. Tallahassee is home to Florida State University, ranked the nations thirty-eighth best public university by U. S. News & World Report and it is also home to the Florida A&M University, one of the countrys largest historically black universities by total enrollment. Tallahassee is home to the Florida State Capitol, Supreme Court of Florida, Florida Governors Mansion, the city is also known for its large number of law firms, lobbying organizations, trade associations and professional associations, including the Florida Bar and the Florida Chamber of Commerce. It is also a regional center for scientific research. In 2015, Tallahassee was awarded the All-American City Award by the National Civic League for the second time, Tallahassee is currently ranked as the 18th best college town in the nation by Best College Reviews. During the 17th century several Spanish missions were established in the territory of the Apalachee to procure food, the largest, Mission San Luis de Apalachee, has been partially reconstructed by the state of Florida. They found large areas of cleared land previously occupied by the Apalachee tribe, earlier, the Mississippian Indians built mounds near Lake Jackson around AD1200, which survive today in the Lake Jackson Archaeological State Park. The expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez encountered the Apalachees, although it did not reach the site of Tallahassee, hernando de Soto and his expedition occupied the Apalachee town of Anhaica in what is now Tallahassee in the winter of 1538–1539. Based on archaeological excavations this site is now known to be located about 0.5 miles east of the present Florida State Capitol, the DeSoto encampment is believed to be the first place Christmas was celebrated in the continental United States. During the First Seminole War, General Andrew Jackson fought two separate skirmishes in and around Tallahassee, the first battle took place on November 12,1817. Chief Neamathla, of the village of Fowltown, just west of present day Tallahassee had refused Jacksons orders to relocate, Jackson responded by entering the village, burning it to the ground, and driving off its occupants. The Indians later retaliated, by killing 50 soldiers and civilians, Jackson reentered Florida in March 1818. According to Jacksons adjutant, Colonel Robert Butler, they advanced on the Indian village called Tallahasse two of the enemy were made prisoner, Tallahassee became the capital of Florida during the second legislative session. It was chosen as it was equidistant from St. Augustine and Pensacola. The first session of Floridas Legislative Council—as a territory of the United States—met on July 22,1822 at Pensacola, the second session was in St. Augustine and required western delegates to travel perilously around the peninsula on a twenty-eight-day trek
9.
Lake City, Florida
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Lake City is the county seat of Columbia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 12,046. It is the city of the Lake City Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is composed of Columbia County. The citys sesquicentennial was held in 2009, the site of Lake City was a Seminole village named Alpata Telophka or Hvlpvtv Tvlofv, meaning Alligator Village. By 1830, a Euro-American town called Alligator was established, adjacent to the Seminole town, the city was incorporated and changed to its current name in 1859. The name was changed because the wife, who had recently moved to the town. Local bodies of water include Lake DeSoto, Lake Isabella, Alligator Lake, Lake Hamburg, Gwen Lake, Lake Harper, the Civil War Battle of Olustee took place east of Lake City, near Olustee in Baker County, in February 1864. It was the major battle in Florida during the war. Union casualties were 1,861 men killed, wounded or missing, the Confederate dead were buried in Lake City. By the early 20th century, Lake City had become an important railroad junction, served by the Seaboard Air Line, Atlantic Coast Line, Georgia Southern Railroad, and the Florida Railroad. Florida Agricultural College, one of the four schools formed the University of Florida, was originally located in Lake City before consolidation to Gainesville in 1905. By 1950, the population of Lake City was 7,467 people, in 1958, the Columbia Amateur Radio Society was formed. This was a group of radio operators that enjoyed the ability to communicate all over the world. This radio club still exists today, Lake Citys centennial was celebrated in 1959 with parades, fireworks and a 58-page book documenting one hundred years of progress, A Century in the Sun. The citizens of the town dressed in attire, complete with whiskers. A good-natured clash arose between the men with facial hair and the women who did not like it. Lake City has two historic districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior, the Lake City Historic Commercial District is located in the downtown city core and was designated on June 6,1994. The Lake Isabella Historic Residential District is located south of the portion of town and was designated on November 15,1993
10.
Doak Campbell Stadium
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Bobby Bowden Field at Doak S. Campbell Stadium, commonly referred to as Doak S. Campbell Stadium or Doak, is the football stadium on the campus of the Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. It is the venue for the universitys football team, nicknamed the Seminoles. The stadium was named for Doak S. Campbell, the president of the university at the time of its construction, on November 20,2004 in accordance with an act of state legislation, the stadium and field were renamed Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium. Doak Campbell Stadium regularly makes lists of the best gameday atmospheres, the stadium, named after FSU President Doak Campbell, hosted its first game against the Randolph-Macon College Yellowjackets on October 7,1950 with the Seminoles winning the game 40–7. At that time the facility had a capacity of 15,000. Florida State began to play at Centennial Field during the teams 1947 season, Florida State College – FSUs predecessor institution – also fielded teams from 1902–1904. Doak Campbell Stadium, with its capacity of 15,000 in 1950, was built at a cost of $250,000. In 1954, the stadium grew to a capacity of 19,000, six thousand more seats were added in 1961. During the Bill Peterson era, the stadium was expanded to 40,500 seats, since that time, the stadium has expanded to 82,300, largely in part to the success of the football team under head coach Bobby Bowden coupled with the ever-growing student body. It now is the 2nd largest football stadium in the Atlantic Coast Conference, aesthetically, a brick facade surrounding the stadium matches the architectural design of most of the buildings on the universitys campus. In addition to the recreational uses, The University Center surrounds the stadium. The field was officially named Bobby Bowden field on November 20,2004 as Florida State hosted intrastate rival Florida, the FSU War Chant began during the Auburn game in 1983 and has since spread to be used by fans of the Atlanta Braves and Kansas City Chiefs. Following the latest expansion in 2003, the stadium has a capacity of 82,300. Prior to the start of the 2007 season, a new state-of-the-art sound, before the 2008 season, two new HD Scoreboards were installed, the main one in the north endzone measures over 100 ft, the south endzone has a 45-foot scoreboard. The new boards allow for game stats and more information on other games in addition to improved replay viewing. An indoor practice facility, adjacent to the stadium, was constructed in 2013, in 2015, construction began on an $85 million project to completely renovate Doak Campbell Stadium. This project is part of the bigger $250 million Florida State Seminoles Champions Campaign to improve all aspects of athletics at Florida State University. The Doak Campbell Stadium renovation project included adding a new outdoor seating section, making structural repairs, repainting the stadium
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