The stadium has hosted concerts by many famous artists, including The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Genesis.

In 1910, the mayor of Lyon, Édouard Herriot, came up with the idea to develop and build a sports stadium with an athletics track and a velodrome in the city.

In 1912, the stadium was officially mandated and local architect Tony Garnier was given the reins to designing and constructing it.

The stadium originally had a cycling track, but it was removed in order to increase the seating capacity to 50,000.

Stade de Gerland can also be used for events with mass audiences, such as concerts; in the past, it has hosted artists such as the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, and Genesis.

The stadium, selected to host the 1972 Rugby League World Cup final, again between Great Britain and Australia.

The try was disallowed by French referee Georges Jameau for offside, but was later proven on TV replay to be onside (to his credit, upon seeing the replay in the referees change room immediately after the game, Jameau sought out the Australian captain to apologize for his error).

Australia winger Ray Branighan missed his 79th-minute penalty, Bob Fulton failed three drop goal attempts in the last five minutes, resulting in a 10–10 scoreline at full time.