Cajun Field is a stadium located in the city of Lafayette, Louisiana. Nicknamed "The Swamp", it is primarily used for American football and women's soccer, and is the home field of the Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns. Cajun Field boasts 2,577 chairback seats and bleacher seating to the capacity of another 28,423, giving "The Swamp" a seating capacity of 31,000. Cajun Field was built in time for the 1971 football season. The characteristics which helped create the name and the tradition have been there since the initial construction. Montreals Olympic Stadium The Athens Olympic Stadium Most stadiums are open-air, such as this football (soccer) stadium in the Netherlands. ... Lafayette is a city located on the Vermilion River in Lafayette Parish, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. ... United States simply as football, is a competitive team sport that is both fast-paced and strategic. ... Association Football (soccer) is the most prominent team sport for women in many countries, and one of the few womens team sports with professional leagues (the other global one being basketball). ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ...

To start, the field surface is set two feet below sea level in a natural bowl. In addition to providing a picturesque surrounding, the sunken facility allows most fans to walk down to their stadium seats as a convenience. For considerations of sea level change, in particular rise associated with possible global warming, see sea level rise. ...

Cajun players and opponents enter Cajun Field through a long tunnel from the UL Lafayette Athletics Complex. With the below-sea level playing surface, a total of four 60-horsepower pumps and a sophisticated drainage system help keep the field in solid playing condition even during the frequent South Louisiana rainstorms. The Port of South Louisiana is the largest volume shipping port in the United States and fifth largest in the world(2003 World Port Rankings). ...

"The Swamp" nickname also fits in with the geographic makeup of the area, with its many surrounding bayous and wetlands, as well as the close proximity of the Gulf of Mexico. It's even more fitting now, since the National Wetlands Center- a nationally renowned research facility that Louisiana-Lafayette hosts and administers - is located less than a half-mile away from Cajun Field. A bayou (pronounced or ) is a small, slow-moving stream or creek formed in the former bed of a river. ... A subtropical wetland in Florida, USA, with an endangered American Crocodile. ... Gulf of Mexico in 3D perspective. ...

Because of Hurricane Katrina, the 2005 New Orleans Bowl was played here instead of in New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina was a tropical cyclone that struck southern and central U.S. on late August, 2005. ... The New Orleans Bowl is a post-season college football bowl game certified by the NCAA that has been played annually at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana from 2001 to 2004. ... New Orleans is the largest city in the state of Louisiana, United States of America. ...

External links

• Terraserver.com aerial view of Cajun Field

• [1] RaginCajuns.com

• [2] University of Louisiana at Lafayette Official Website