Eccles Coliseum is an 8,500-seat multi-purpose stadium in the western United States, on the campus of Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah. It is the home venue of the Southern Utah Thunderbirds football and track and field teams of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). The stadium also hosts the Utah Summer Games opening ceremonies and several events. Opened 55 years ago in 1967, its Hellas MatrixTurf playing field has a traditional north-south alignment at an elevation 5,800 feet (1,770 m) above sea level. The surface was natural grass until 2012.