FIU

FIU Panthers football program represents Florida International University (FIU) in the sport of American football. The Panthers compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the East Division of Conference USA (CUSA). The Panthers' head coach is Butch Davis. FIU has produced a Sun Belt Conference co-championship team in 2010, along with 3 postseason bowl appearances. The Panthers play their home games at Riccardo Silva Stadium which has a seating capacity of 20,000.

Riccardo Silva Stadium is a college football and soccer stadium on the campus of Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida. It is home stadium of the FIU Panthers football team and the Miami FC soccer team from the USL Championship. The stadium opened in 1995 and has a seating capacity of 20,000.

History

FIU Community Stadium

FIU Community Stadium was the first dedicated sports facility at the school, replacing Tamiami Field. Construction officially began on July 24, 1994, and the facility opened on September 24, 1995, as a 7,500-seat football and track stadium. It was built as a joint venture between FIU, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Miami-Dade Parks, and the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair. In anticipation of the inaugural FIU Golden Panthers football season in fall 2002, the university placed movable bleachers around the stadium's all-weather running track in 2001, which increased the stadium's capacity to 17,000 seats.

Renovation

Years Stadium capacity

1995–2001 7,500

2002–2007 17,000

2008–2011 18,000

2012–present 20,000

In 2007, the university announced a major expansion and redesign for FIU Stadium. The redesign of FIU Stadium would increase the stadium's capacity to 45,000 fans, to be built in phases. For the first phase of the expansion, the school demolished a large portion of the original 1995 stadium. The west, south and east sides of FIU Stadium were taken down and construction began on the new, permanent stadium. The expansion was completed in September 2008 for the 2008 football season. Phase one increased the stadium's capacity from 17,000 fans to 18,000, including 1,500 club seats. During construction, the 2007 FIU Golden Panthers football team played its home games in the Miami Orange Bowl.

The new facility opened for the first home game of the 2008 football season against the South Florida Bulls on September 20. The Golden Panthers lost 17–9 in front of a crowd of 16,717. The team won its first game in the new stadium on October 11, 2008, against Sun Belt Conference rival the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders, 31–21. The team finished its first season in the new stadium with three wins and two losses. In 2009, the university began the second phase of the stadium expansion, which included the construction of a new football field house. Renovations were completed in 2012 and the capacity increased to 20,000 seats.

In 2017, the university agreed to a five-year deal to rename the stadium after Riccardo Silva, part owner of Miami FC. Before the deal, Silva had donated $3.76 million for various improvements to the stadium including a new playing surface and Jumbotron video scoreboard.