The University of Oregon's website lists the seating capacity of Hayward Field as 10,500.
That isn't accurate. It's not close.
I know. I spent part of an afternoon last month counting the seats.
I came up with about 8,500. It's impossible to be exact because the cement benches in Powell Plaza on the track's northeast corner don't have numbered seats. I guesstimated Powell Plaza's capacity at 150.
This issue is relevant for a couple reasons.
-- It calls into question official attendance figures for meets at Hayward. If there are 8,500 permanent seats in the old stadium, there couldn't have been a crowd of 11,488 for the final day of the men's competition last year at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships as announced.