Talk about a big salute to the military and America.
The Border War 2024 rivalry football game between Colorado State University and the University of Wyoming on Friday night included unfurling a superflag — one of the world’s largest American flags.
Colorado State University spokesperson Ryan Pfeifer said the massive 160-by-300-foot flag was unfurled during the playing for the national anthem as part of the college’s Military Appreciation Day.
It covered the football field from end zone to end zone.
“We had over 200 volunteers out there to help with it,” he said. “Everyone came into the stadium through our tunnel with it all bunched up together and then unfurled after that from one sideline and spread across to another.”
The college recruited military dependents, college veterans, military veterans and families, and community members ages 12 and older to be among those holding the flag around the entire football field.
In addition to the flag, the game’s pregame activities allowed fans to see UH-80 Black Hawk and AH-6 Apache helicopters fly over and land on the field, and during the national anthem a U.S. Air Force flyover of Canvas Stadium.
While advertised as among the world’s largest flags, it does not quite match the superflag in the Guiness Book of World Records that measures 225 feet by 505 feet displayed over Hoover Dam as part of the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay.
That flag weighed more than 3,000 pounds and requires the help of more than 500 volunteers to transport. Each star is 17 feet high and the stripes are 20 feet wide.
Pfeifer said he didn’t know how tall the stars are on the flag used at the game. He said the flag has been used in other years.
“We’ve done it multiple times for our Military Appreciation Day game,” he said.
A superflag website, superflag.com, lists the flag used at the Border War as the second largest available.
Colorado State University won this year’s Border War game over the Cowboys 24-10 and the coveted Bronze Boot trophy.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
