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Kelly/Shorts Stadium

Kelly/Shorts Stadium in Mount Pleasant, MI, home of Central Michigan. Capacity 30,255. Opened November 4, 1972.

Kelly/Shorts Stadium in Mount Pleasant, MI
Kelly/Shorts Stadium, Mount Pleasant, MIPhoto: PureMichiganChip, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Capacity
30,255
Opened
1972
Surface
FieldTurf
Roof
Open air
Elevation
790 ft
Central Michigan here
83–⁠56 games on file since 2001

Since it opened: Central Michigan is 185–⁠90–⁠4 in home games from the 1973 season on. Our source names a game’s stadium only from 2001, so that count takes every earlier home game not marked neutral and may include a few played elsewhere.

Biggest games here

From the games on file here, 2001 on: title and postseason games, meetings of two ranked teams, upsets by our pregame Elo ratings and the biggest swings in CollegeFootballData.com’s excitement index.

Crowds season by season

Average and biggest crowd at Kelly/Shorts Stadium by season, 2001 to 202610k20k30k40k50k60k2001: 17,861 a game over 5 games; biggest 27,4132002: 22,079 a game over 7 games; biggest 50,6902003: 13,683 a game over 6 games; biggest 23,2682004: 16,082 a game over 4 games; biggest 19,3692005: 17,375 a game over 5 games; biggest 22,2122006: 21,563 a game over 5 games; biggest 30,0272007: 18,771 a game over 5 games; biggest 22,0312008: 22,659 a game over 5 games; biggest 30,3022009: 19,702 a game over 5 games; biggest 26,7302010: 21,232 a game over 4 games; biggest 24,7612011: 15,291 a game over 5 games; biggest 17,8912012: 16,036 a game over 7 games; biggest 35,1272013: 13,224 a game over 5 games; biggest 18,7962014: 16,306 a game over 6 games; biggest 25,5312015: 15,672 a game over 6 games; biggest 21,0922016: 17,408 a game over 6 games; biggest 30,4112017: 13,504 a game over 5 games; biggest 17,1932018: 12,840 a game over 6 games; biggest 18,1272019: 13,564 a game over 6 games; biggest 18,6412021: 14,463 a game over 6 games; biggest 20,1122022: 15,823 a game over 6 games; biggest 22,3052023: 16,350 a game over 5 games; biggest 28,3232024: 17,752 a game over 6 games; biggest 27,0722025: 16,277 a game over 5 games; biggest 28,6052026: 18,220 a game over 3 games; biggest 20,102200120062011201620212026

Biggest crowds on file

50,690Colorado at Wisconsin2002
35,127Michigan State at Central Michigan2012
30,411Western Michigan at Central Michigan2016
30,302Western Michigan at Central Michigan2008
30,027Western Michigan at Central Michigan2006

Bars are each season’s average crowd, dots its biggest (the record in orange), the dashed rule today’s capacity. Attendance is on file for most games from 2001 on.

Weather on game day

Coldest kickoffs

Hottest kickoffs

Snow at kickoff

Coldest game days before 2004

Hottest game days before 2004

Snow on game day

Kickoffs: the NOAA report nearest kickoff from the closest weather station (NOAA NCEI Integrated Surface Database). Game days: the day’s high and snowfall at the NOAA station nearest the stadium, for Central Michigan’s home games before 2004 (NOAA GHCN-Daily, public domain).

The stadium’s history

Former names
Perry Shorts Stadium (1972–⁠1982)
Kelly/Shorts Stadium (1983-2022)
Opened
November 4, 1972
Architect
Hobbs+Black
Surface over the years
FieldTurf (2004–present)
Astroturf (1972–⁠2003)
Expanded
1998
Record crowd
35,127 (v. Michigan State University September 8, 2012)

From the stadium’s Wikipedia article, Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

From above

50 mN ↑
The stadium’s footprint, north up: about 150 by 150 meters (490 by 480 feet), the field in green. Outline from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Recent games here

Oct 17, 2026Western Michigan 21, Central Michigan 14
Oct 3, 2026Central Michigan 41, Akron 17
Sep 19, 2026Central Michigan 24, Wyoming 10
Sep 12, 2026Central Michigan 13, Colgate 10
Nov 29, 2025Toledo 21, Central Michigan 3
Nov 12, 2025Central Michigan 38, Buffalo 19
Oct 25, 2025Central Michigan 38, Massachusetts 13
Sep 27, 2025Central Michigan 24, Eastern Michigan 13
Sep 20, 2025Central Michigan 49, Wagner 10
Nov 19, 2024Central Michigan 16, Western Michigan 14
Nov 5, 2024Bowling Green 23, Central Michigan 13
Oct 12, 2024Ohio 27, Central Michigan 25

Around the stadium

Playing surface
AstroTurf · Single source
Beer sales
Sold to all fans · Official source

Found by several AI researchers searching the web, then kept only where the page loads and says so in words naming the program; every quote is checked again each time the data is rebuilt. Official source: the school’s own page. All of them.