Job posting
Lead Athletics Groundskeeper at Stanford Stadium | Stanford
Stanford University is hiring a full-time Lead Athletics Groundskeeper for Stanford Stadium and football practice fields, paying $35.71-$43.19 per hour.
Stanford Stadium is a college venue, and that shapes the work more than anything about the building itself. A Cardinal football season is roughly six or seven home dates. An NFL stadium is ten before playoffs; a dual-tenant venue is thirty-plus. If you are looking at Stanford Stadium as an income source rather than an occasional shift, the honest answer is that football alone will not do it — you need the wider Stanford Athletics calendar.
This page covers who hires after Levy took over Cardinal hospitality in 2025, how the college model differs from professional venues, Bay Area pay context, and the venue background.
Who employs you at Stanford Stadium
Levy Restaurants became the hospitality partner for Stanford Athletics starting with the 2025 season, taking on food, beverage, premium service, and event catering across the athletics venues. The partnership is covered here.
| Work | Employer | Application path |
|---|---|---|
| Concessions, premium hospitality, catering | Levy Restaurants | Compass Group careers portal |
| Guest services, ushers, ticket takers | Stanford Athletics | Stanford Athletics / university jobs site |
| Grounds, turf, and facilities | Stanford University | Stanford careers site |
| Event security | Contracted vendor and university public safety | Vendor application |
| Parking and traffic | Stanford transportation contractors | Vendor application |
One structural difference from a professional venue: because the employer of record for some roles is the university rather than a contractor, benefits, background-check requirements, and pay scales vary more between role types here than they would at an NFL stadium where a single operator covers most of the workforce. The lead groundskeeper posting is a good example — it is a year-round university position, not event-day hospitality work.
Levy covers more than the football stadium
This is the part that changes the maths for applicants. Levy’s Stanford agreement spans multiple venues, not just the stadium:
- Stanford Stadium — football, roughly six or seven home dates in the autumn.
- Maples Pavilion — men’s and women’s basketball, a much denser winter calendar.
- The softball stadium — spring season.
- Premium hospitality and catering for special events across athletics year-round.
Staff who make stadium work viable at Stanford generally work across all of them. Applying with availability limited to football Saturdays makes you a marginal hire; applying with winter and spring availability makes you a useful one.
Roles and pay context
California’s statewide minimum wage is indexed annually and sits above $16.50 an hour. Bay Area hospitality rates typically run above that floor — the cost of living and the competition for staff from restaurants, corporate dining, and tech campuses see to it. Confirm the current rate in the official listing.
| Role | What it involves | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Concessions attendant | In-bowl service, cashless POS | Standard entry point; heavy student intake |
| Premium host / club server | Service in premium spaces and The Archway | Gratuity share; service experience expected |
| Bartender | Bar service on game days | California alcohol-server certification required |
| Catering staff | Special events and athletics functions | Work outside the football calendar |
| Line cook / prep | Kitchen production | Fewer positions than at a pro venue |
| Grounds and turf | Natural grass field maintenance | Year-round university employment, not event-day work |
Student and community hiring
College venues run on student labor, and Stanford is no exception — the schedule fits around classes and the campus is the labor pool. But it would be a mistake to assume that is the only route in. Operators consistently need people the student body cannot supply:
- Weekday availability for catering, prep, and setup work that happens while classes are in session.
- Alcohol-server certification, which most student hires do not arrive with.
- Continuity across the academic year, including the winter break and summer periods when students leave.
- Supervisory experience for lead roles over largely first-time staff.
If you are applying from the surrounding Peninsula communities rather than from campus, those are the things to lead with.
The calendar
- August — hiring and onboarding ahead of the football season.
- September–November — football home dates. The Big Game against California is the peak date of the year and the one everyone wants.
- November–March — Maples Pavilion basketball, a longer and steadier run of smaller events.
- February–May — softball and spring sports.
- Year-round — athletics catering and special events.
Stanford’s move to the Atlantic Coast Conference changed the shape of the football schedule more than the work itself: different visiting opponents, and more early Pacific-time kickoffs arranged around East Coast broadcast windows. Earlier kickoffs pull call times forward, which is worth knowing when you commit to availability.
Getting to work
- The stadium is at 625 Nelson Road on the Stanford campus, off Highway 101 and El Camino Real.
- Caltrain serves Palo Alto station, connected to campus by the free Marguerite shuttle — the practical commute for staff without campus parking, which is restricted and expensive.
- Campus event-day traffic management closes and redirects roads around the stadium; staff routes differ from fan routes, so confirm your access point with your employer rather than following event signage.
- The Bay Area’s mild autumn climate makes this a comparatively easy open-air venue to work compared with cold-weather stadiums, though early kickoffs on warm September afternoons put the sun directly on the exposed side of the bowl.
Venue background
The original Stanford Stadium opened in 1921. The current building is not a renovation of it — the stadium was demolished and rebuilt from the ground up on the same site in 2006, at a cost of roughly $90 million, producing a tighter and more modern bowl at about half the old capacity.
Fast facts
- Location: Stanford, California (625 Nelson Rd)
- Team: Stanford Cardinal (NCAA, Atlantic Coast Conference)
- Capacity: 50,424
- Originally opened: 1921
- Rebuilt: 2006
- Reconstruction cost: ~$90 million
- Surface: Natural grass
- Hospitality operator: Levy Restaurants, from 2025
Features worth knowing before an interview
- An open-air bowl designed around the mild Bay Area climate, with a horseshoe-shaped lower bowl.
- A covered upper deck that shades most seats.
- The Archway — a destination beneath the arches in the north end zone for eating, drinking, and socialising, added as part of the Levy program and one of the main premium service points.
- Cashless concessions throughout, with local Bay Area restaurant partnerships curated by Levy and Chick-fil-A added to the concession lineup.
Major events hosted
- Stanford Cardinal football home games
- The Big Game against California, one of the oldest rivalries in college football
- 1994 FIFA World Cup matches
- 1984 Summer Olympics field hockey competition
- International soccer friendlies and special events
Related pages
- Operator profile: Levy Restaurants
- Live posting: Lead Athletics Groundskeeper at Stanford
- The partnership: Stanford Athletics teams up with Levy
- All U.S. venues: stadium directory