40,306 on November 15. (They won the Apple Cup at Husky Stadium in Seattle the following week to win the Pac-10, and played in the Rose Bowl for the first time in 67 years.) Despite its relatively small size, Martin Stadium has one of the highest ratios of seating capacity to population base; almost 1.1 seats per every citizen in the city of Pullman, and one for most in Whitman County. Following a 10–3 season and an undefeated home campaign in 2003, it was ranked by Sports Illustrated as one of the toughest stadiums for visiting teams in college football. On March 12, 2021, WSU announced that the Washington State Board of Regents had approved a 10-year, $11 million minimum deal with Gesa Credit Union, a Richland-based financial institution, to sponsor the playing surface at the stadium. The deal had the surface renamed to Gesa Field; it did not include naming rights to the stadium. 1979 expansion Martin Stadium was among the first college football stadiums to expand by removing its running track and lowering the playing field, in this case by . This modification in 1979 added over 12,000 new seats, most of which were closer to the field (and the opponent's bench). The first game following the renovation was played in mid-October, a victory over UCLA under sunny skies. The Mooberry Track was constructed north of the stadium, then the site of the old Bailey baseball field, with home plate at the northwest corner. Baseball was relocated northeast, toward the golf course, to Bailey–Brayton Field. The original plan was for the track to occupy that space, but soil issues caused a revision. The new track debuted in the spring of 1980 and hosted its first event on May 3, a decisive dual-meet win over rival Washington. 2006–2014 renovations and transformation Phases I and II (2006–2008) Phases I and II commenced at the end of the 2006 football season. The project focused on improving the public areas in and around the stadium. A new concourse was built along the north stands and new concessions and restrooms were also added throughout the stadium. Improvements were also made around the stadium perimeter including the construction of a new public plaza and ticket office at the stadium's northeast corner along with a monumental sign at the east edge of the stadium along Stadium Way. The existing scoreboard behind the west stands was