Williams Stadium has served as the home of Liberty Flames football since it opened on October 21, 1989, on the Liberty University campus in Lynchburg, Virginia. What began as a modest 12,000-seat venue has grown through multiple construction phases into a 25,000-seat stadium with a five-story press tower, luxury suites, and high-definition video boards.
Originally built as Willard May Stadium, the venue was renamed in 1994 to honor Arthur L. Williams Jr., a major financial contributor to the university. Today it’s officially known as Arthur L. Williams Stadium, though fans and media simply call it Williams Stadium or ‘The Bill.’
Stats at a Glance
- Team(s): Liberty Flames football (NCAA FBS)
- Location: Lynchburg, Virginia
- Opened: October 21, 1989
- Capacity: About 25,000 (since 2018)
- Surface: AstroTurf 3D3 Rootzone Blend (installed 2022)
- Record football attendance: 24,012 (Oct. 22, 2022 vs. BYU)
- Notable fact: Expanded in two major phases (2010 and 2018) at a combined cost of about $58 million, growing from 12,000 to 25,000 seats
From 12,000 Seats to a Modern FBS Venue
When Williams Stadium opened in 1989, it held just 12,000 fans. Liberty’s rise to NCAA Division I FBS competition prompted a multi-phase expansion plan. The first phase, finished in 2010, added a second deck on the home side along with a five-story press box featuring luxury suites, pushing capacity to roughly 19,200.
A second phase, completed in 2018, added upper-deck seating on the east side and brought capacity to about 25,000, where it stands today. Ahead of the 2022 season, Liberty also replaced the playing surface with a new AstroTurf 3D3 Rootzone Blend field, part of a broader round of stadium upgrades that season.
Game-Day Upgrades and Facilities
Along with added seating, Williams Stadium picked up major technology and facility upgrades over the years. A high-definition video board and matching ribbon boards were installed on the upper deck ahead of the 2018 season. In 2020, a new football center opened at the stadium’s north end, adding a home locker room, coaches’ offices, meeting rooms, and a weight room for the Flames program, and the 2022 turf replacement kept the playing surface current for the program’s most-attended era.
Explore more: Explore more iconic stadiums.
Bleachers for three hours, but with back support. Folds flat and clips to the bench.
For upper-deck seats. Watch line play at the stadium, or the far side of the park from the top of a lift hill.
Sherpa-lined and windproof, with a waterproof back for wet bleachers. Folds into its own pouch.
Williams Stadium FAQs
Who plays at Williams Stadium?
Williams Stadium is the home field of Liberty Flames football, an NCAA Division I FBS program at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.
How big is Williams Stadium?
The stadium currently seats about 25,000 fans, a capacity reached in 2018 after growing from its original 12,000-seat configuration in 1989.
What surface does Williams Stadium use?
Liberty installed a new AstroTurf 3D3 Rootzone Blend synthetic turf field at Williams Stadium ahead of the 2022 season.
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Photo: Quintin Soloviev / CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.