In addition to boasting of the most picturesque settings for college football with Appalachian State's beautiful, modern campus and the natural beauty of the High Country serving as a backdrop, Kidd Brewer Stadium also stakes claim to being one of the toughest venues in the nation.
Going into its 57th season in the venerable stadium, which opened as Conrad Stadium on Sept. 15, 1962, Appalachian State boasts a 240-75-5 all-time record at home, including wins in 86 of its last 103 home games.
App State led the FCS in regular-season attendance in each of its final seven seasons at that level. It has led the FBS Sun Belt Conference in home football attendance for the last two years, averaging 25,787 fans during its six games in Boone during the 2017 season.
Kidd Brewer Stadium has increased its seating capacity to 30,000, and Wake Forest's visit to Boone in 2017 attracted a record crowd of 35,126. The record was broken just one year after Miami's visit to Kidd Brewer Stadium drew a crowd of 34,658.
Thanks to philanthropic funding through A Mountaineer Impact, Kidd Brewer Stadium had a new and improved look in 2017 and is now part of the of the Mark E. Ricks Athletics Complex, The video board display increased to three times the size of the previous board with 2,500 square feet to feature 13HD technology from Daktronics. It measures 50 feet high by 90 feet wide for the overall scoreboard, with the new LED display measuring more than 37 feet high by 67 feet wide.
Kidd Brewer Stadium's official seating capacity was 16,650 in 2007, but several expansion projects, including construction of the 120,000-square-foot Appalachian Athletics Center, have almost doubled the capacity.
Kidd Brewer Stadium's playing field has also been on the cutting edge throughout its history. In 1970, the stadium's original natural grass was replaced with the Carolinas' first-ever artificial surface. In 2003, Appalachian became one of the initial collegiate programs in the country to install FieldTurf as its football surface and, in 2011, Kidd Brewer Stadium became the first venue in the nation to feature FieldTurf's new 'Revolution' playing surface.
Conrad Stadium opened in honor of former University trustee and R.J. Reynolds executive William J. Conrad and was originally constructed with 10,000 permanent seats.
Conrad Stadium was renamed on Sept. 3, 1988 in honor of Kidd Brewer, one of the most successful head coaches in Appalachian football history and a colorful part of North Carolina history. Brewer, a Winston-Salem, N.C., native who served as head football coach of the Mountaineers from 1935-38, compiled a 30-5-3 overall mark in his four seasons at the helm of the Mountaineers. An All-American at Duke, Brewer's 1937 squad was unbeaten and unscored upon in the regular season.
After leaving Appalachian, Brewer started a sales career, but shortly thereafter, he reported for active duty in World War II. He served as a Naval lieutenant in the Pacific. After the war, Brewer was secretary to U.S. Sen. Josiah W. Bailey (D-N.C.).
Brewer ran for lieutenant governor of North Carolina in 1956. Between campaigns for governor (1964) and the state court of appeals (1968), he made a name for himself as a developer, insurance salesman and philanthropist.
