Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium is a stadium in Troy, Alabama. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the Troy
University Trojans.
Veterans Memorial Stadium (as it was known) opened in 1950. Originally dedicated to the TSTC students and Pike County residents who had
died in World War II, the stadium solely consisted of a small, 5,000-seat grandstand on the west side of the running track, and was built into the
natural slope of the ground. It was expanded several times, including the addition of upper deck in 1998 that brought capacity up to 17,500,
before the most recent renovation was carried out for completion in 2003, the season which saw the Trojans make the move to Division I-A. The
old press box area, which had cut into the 1998 upper deck, was filled in and a larger press box and luxury box area was added behind the now
completed upper deck. The track was removed and the field was lowered, and permanent seating was placed over the old berm area behind the
south grandstand. The now-30,000 seat stadium is a flattened "U" shape, with the north end still open. The natural grass surface was replaced
with AstroPlay synthetic grass.
Costs for the 1998 expansion of the stadium were financed in part by a substantial donation from HealthSouth founder Richard M. Scrushy. The
playing field (but not the stadium) was renamed for Scrushy, but this became a public relations problem for Troy when Scrushy was forced out of
his position due top alleged financial misdeeds at HealthSouth, for which he was later tried, but acquitted. (Scrushy was later convicted of other
unrelated crimes, along with former Alabama governor Don Siegelman; those convictions are currently under appeal.)
Construction costs for the latest expansions were financed in part by the sale of naming rights to the video rental chain Movie Gallery. Because of
this, Scrushy's name on the field is now rarely mentioned.
The stadium hosted the annual Blue-Gray Football Classic for two seasons before the game was cancelled by the Lions Club of Montgomery, AL
while they searched for a title sponsor. That search continues.
