Garth Brooks Concert to be First at Notre Dame Stadium

(Image courtesy of the University of Notre Dame.)

One of the biggest names in country music will headline the first-ever concert at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend. Garth Brooks says he looks forward to "bringing a new kind of crazy to the party" at the 88-year-old venue at a date that hasn’t yet been announced. Last year, the University of Notre Dame debuted the new look and facilities inside and connected to the stadium involved in the $400 million Campus Crossroads project — the largest investment of its kind ever at Notre Dame.

Notre Dame Executive Vice President John Affleck-Graves was among the participants in a news conference Monday in South Bend that included Brooks and former Notre Dame head football coach Lou Holtz. Affleck-Graves said "right from the outset, I just felt that Garth represents Notre Dame’s values. And he is the perfect choice as the first artist to perform in concert in the stadium that Rockne built. This promises to be one of the biggest events in Notre Dame’s history."

The venue has previously hosted musicians for shorter events like football halftime shows, but the university says it has never held a stand-alone concert. Brooks, who just returned from a three-and-a-half year tour with his wife, Trisha Yearwood, that covered 79 cities and included 390 concerts, is considered by the Recording Industry Association of America as the No. 1-selling solo artist in U.S. history with more than 148 million albums sold.

Next year, Notre Dame Stadium will for the first time host the National Hockey League’s Winter Classic game featuring the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins.