The ACU Wildcats began playing football at Shotwell Stadium in 1960, and the 2009 season will be the Wildcats’ 50th season in the facility, which is owned and operated by the Abilene Independent School District.  The facility is also the home of both Abilene and Abilene Cooper high school football and soccer teams and hosts several high school playoff games each year.

All three schools are playing in a facility that has undergone some major renovation in the last several years, including the addition before the 2002 season of SafePlay turf field. In July 2007, a new scoreboard was added to the north end of the stadium.

New dressing facilities on the south end and new restrooms on the north end were added to the stadium prior to the 2005 season. 
 
Shotwell has been the site of numerous high-profile games, but maybe none more than the NCAA Division II playoff game played there Nov. 22, 2008, between ACU and West Texas A&M.  In that game, the Wildcats beat the Buffaloes, 93-68, in the second round of the playoffs as the teams combined to break more than 40 records in the game.  ACU running back Bernard Scott – who would go on to win the Harlon Hill Award as the top player in NCAA Division II football – scored an NCAA-record seven touchdowns (six rushing) as the Wildcats set an NCAA record for most points by one team in a playoff game and the two teams combined for the most points scored in a playoff game. 
 
On Aug. 27 of 2099, the Wildcats hosted Northwest Missouri State in the season-opener for both teams, as it was broadcast nationally on CBS College Sports, the first game to ever be broadcast nationally from Shotwell Stadium.  Since last season Abilene High has hosted a nationally televised game on ESPN against Florida State Champion Plant High School.