Show how strong of fan you are with this East Carolina University Dowdy Ficklen Football Stadium Panoramic Picture Unframed Poster! This panorama taken by Christopher Gjevre features the Pirates of East Carolina University playing to the home crowd at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Originally built in 1963 with a 10000-seat capacity the stadium now can welcome 50000 fans after an end zone expansion project was completed for the 2010 season. Inspired by the legendary Blackbeard and other maritime swashbucklers who called eastern North Carolina their home ECU officially became known as the Pirates in 1934. Founded in 1907 located in Greenville North Carolina with a current student enrollment exceeding 27500 East Carolina University competes at the NCAA Division I level as a member of Conference USA.