Neyland Upgrades

#1
V

volmanNC

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#1
I am assuming the upgrades for the coming season must be about done?

Does anyone have pictures of the new sections and etc?

I would love to what the new upper deck section looks like.
 
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#5
#5
I figured by now someone would've posted some awesome pics that have not already been published on the internet. But since that hasn't happen (yet), I'll re-post this one from last week showing the new V-O-L-S signs and also, incidentally, the progress being made along the west sideline.

p7mjbh9b46a91.jpg
 
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#8
#8
VetVol said:
Could they have put the new jumbotron ON TOP of the overhang so that they could have kept all of the seats removed for the jumbotron? Seems like a lot of seats had to be removed for that thing.
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It only ended up being a few hundred drop in capacity. I want to say around 450ish. I think That concrete area will be standing room only tickets. So maybe few more seats removed
 
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#9
#9
volfaninky said:
Wish they would do the exact same thing to the south end… covered and chairbacks
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I had family lose there seats in that area of the new Jumbotron. My complaint to the university was I dont mind capacity reduction, but it should be done by adding chair back seats throughout the stadium. Also, as someone who was in the lower deck of the south side, I never missed seeing the Jumbotron.
 
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#10
#10
VetVol said:
Could they have put the new jumbotron ON TOP of the overhang so that they could have kept all of the seats removed for the jumbotron? Seems like a lot of seats had to be removed for that thing.
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The overhang could not support something the size of a jumbotron without massive reinforcement.

Because of how close alumni gym is, there is no space to add anything outside of the existing stadium footprint. They could not set new supports for a scoreboard there like was done in the south endzone
 
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#12
#12
Anyone know if I will see any upgrades around my seats ? - X2. Row 37

Decided to purchase a pair after a 12 yr hiatus.
 
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#13
#13
For those fans that aren't geriatric, a little history lesson. Before it was Neyland Stadium, it was Shield's Watkins Field (and still is - that is the field part). The donors of the land and namesakes to the field put a caveat in there that the "Hill", must always be visible from the field. There was some controversy when they closed the north endzone. Even more when the upper deck went in.

I have heard (on the Doug Mathews show), that if they put the jumbotron above the upper deck in the North endzone - it would block the view of Ayer's hall from the pressbox and those seats that are high enough up to see the Hill. This had much to do with the decision to put the jumbotron where it is.

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#14
#14
ptcarter said:
For those fans that aren't geriatric, a little history lesson. Before it was Neyland Stadium, it was Shield's Watkins Field (and still is - that is the field part). The donors of the land and namesakes to the field put a caveat in there that the "Hill", must always be visible from the field. There was some controversy when they closed the north endzone. Even more when the upper deck went in.

I have heard (on the Doug Mathews show), the if they put the jumbotron above the upper deck in the North endzone - it would block the view of Ayer's hall from the pressbox and those seats that are high enough up to see the Hill. This had much to do with the decision to put the jumbotron where it is.

View attachment 472884
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I LOVE those old arches around the outside perimeter of the stadium! I'd love it if they could somehow re-incorporate those again!
 
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#18
#18
ptcarter said:
For those fans that aren't geriatric, a little history lesson. Before it was Neyland Stadium, it was Shield's Watkins Field (and still is - that is the field part). The donors of the land and namesakes to the field put a caveat in there that the "Hill", must always be visible from the field. There was some controversy when they closed the north endzone. Even more when the upper deck went in.

I have heard (on the Doug Mathews show), that if they put the jumbotron above the upper deck in the North endzone - it would block the view of Ayer's hall from the pressbox and those seats that are high enough up to see the Hill. This had much to do with the decision to put the jumbotron where it is.

View attachment 472884

View attachment 472891


View attachment 472887
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I've heard that tale for decades and have a hard time believing it. Shields-Watkins field was donated as an all purpose athletic field and was used for baseball, field and track in addition to football. The university enrollment in the early 1920's was around 1000 and I think it unlikely someone had the foresight to see college athletics becoming what has and that a 100,000+ seat stadium would be built around that multi-purpose athletic field to the point it would block Ayres Hall.

And Ayres wasn't complete until the summer of 1921 while the students and faculty finished hand grading Shields-Watkins three months earlier in March 1921. So while Ayres was certainly visible and an anticipated addition to the university, I don't think anyone had the attatchment to the building yet to require it be visible from what then was essentially an intramural sports field.
 
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#19
#19
I wish the new Jumbotron was above the stadium like the other one. I just looks off below the roof, at least to me it does.
 
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#20
#20
dobre_shunka said:
I've heard that tale for decades and have a hard time believing it. Shields-Watkins field was donated as an all purpose athletic field and was used for baseball, field and track in addition to football. The university enrollment in the early 1920's was around 1000 and I think it unlikely someone had the foresight to see college athletics becoming what has and that a 100,000+ seat stadium would be built around that multi-purpose athletic field to the point it would block Ayres Hall.

And Ayres wasn't complete until the summer of 1921 while the students and faculty finished hand grading Shields-Watkins three months earlier in March 1921. So while Ayres was certainly visible and an anticipated addition to the university, I don't think anyone had the attatchment to the building yet to require it be visible from what then was essentially an intramural sports field.
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I can only speculate on what’s real. My Dad was up there in “32 and he told me that when I was a kid. All I can think of is that the donors were still around as the general began the first expansions and still might have had a say in it.
 
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#21
#21
ptcarter said:
For those fans that aren't geriatric, a little history lesson. Before it was Neyland Stadium, it was Shield's Watkins Field (and still is - that is the field part). The donors of the land and namesakes to the field put a caveat in there that the "Hill", must always be visible from the field. There was some controversy when they closed the north endzone. Even more when the upper deck went in.

I have heard (on the Doug Mathews show), that if they put the jumbotron above the upper deck in the North endzone - it would block the view of Ayer's hall from the pressbox and those seats that are high enough up to see the Hill. This had much to do with the decision to put the jumbotron where it is.

View attachment 472884

View attachment 472891


View attachment 472887
Click to expand...
Thanks for the pictures. My dad worked at Ellis and Earnest. And, I watched my first UT game from the hillside with the UT symbol (v Penn State).
 
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#23
#23
dobre_shunka said:
I've heard that tale for decades and have a hard time believing it. Shields-Watkins field was donated as an all purpose athletic field and was used for baseball, field and track in addition to football. The university enrollment in the early 1920's was around 1000 and I think it unlikely someone had the foresight to see college athletics becoming what has and that a 100,000+ seat stadium would be built around that multi-purpose athletic field to the point it would block Ayres Hall.

And Ayres wasn't complete until the summer of 1921 while the students and faculty finished hand grading Shields-Watkins three months earlier in March 1921. So while Ayres was certainly visible and an anticipated addition to the university, I don't think anyone had the attatchment to the building yet to require it be visible from what then was essentially an intramural sports field.
Click to expand...


When Neyland told his players to run to the checkerboard, he was referring to the checkerboard brickwork on the Ayres Hall tower. Before the permanent seating was added to the north end, I could see Ayres Hall from the lowest seats in the south bowel. It was a big deal, especially given the history of Neyland's instruction.

Some may not know (somewhat inexcusable) that Dickey's inspiration for the checkerboard end zone was the Ayres Hall tower checkerboard. Dickey was also aware of Neyland's instruction to his players. I personally was disappointed in the addition of the north end upper deck and would support it being removed altogether.
 
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#24
#24
VegasBaby! said:
When Neyland told his players to run to the checkerboard, he was referring to the checkerboard brickwork on the Ayres Hall tower. Before the permanent seating was added to the north end, I could see Ayres Hall from the lowest seats in the south bowel. It was a big deal, especially given the history of Neyland's instruction.

Some may not know (somewhat inexcusable) that Dickey's inspiration for the checkerboard end zone was the Ayres Hall tower checkerboard. Dickey was also aware of Neyland's instruction to his players. I personally was disappointed in the addition of the north end upper deck and would support it being removed altogether.
Click to expand...
When I was a little kid playing Pop Warner, all the teams in our town practiced on the same huge, wide open field across the street from the Catholic church. One of the first days of my first year on the team (we kept the same team our entire Pop Warner "career"), our coach was teaching us how to effectively tackle. He'd say, "you wrap him up by putting your facemask right in the numbers on the front of his jersey, get both arms around him, hold tight, and drive drive drive with your legs, you take him all the way to the cleaners!"

Well, I didn't really know what a cleaners was (turns out there was a dry cleaning shop about a half mile away, beyond the trees and on the other side of a creek at the far end of the field). I had no idea what a cleaners was. I didn't know what the heck he meant.

To this day, I'm not sure if "take him to the cleaners" was specific to Coach Uselton and that practice field, or a general phrase used by everyone in the world. And I'm not sure why it would be a cleaners, and not, say, a hamburger joint or a sears and roebuck store (those were also on the other side of those trees and that creek).

Anyway, that was just Neyland's way of saying "wrap him up and drive drive drive with your legs, take him all the way out of the play." I don't think you literally have to see the top of Ayers Hall for those instructions to remain valid. It should be alright. :)

Even if the players don't understand the meaning any better than I did as a kid, it'll work out.

Heh.

Go Vols!
 
#25
#25
VFL-82-JP said:
When I was a little kid playing Pop Warner, all the teams in our town practiced on the same huge, wide open field across the street from the Catholic church. One of the first days of my first year on the team (we kept the same team our entire Pop Warner "career"), our coach was teaching us how to effectively tackle. He'd say, "you wrap him up by putting your facemask right in the numbers on the front of his jersey, get both arms around him, hold tight, and drive drive drive with your legs, you take him all the way to the cleaners!"

Well, I didn't really know what a cleaners was (turns out there was a dry cleaning shop about a half mile away, beyond the trees and on the other side of a creek at the far end of the field). I had no idea what a cleaners was. I didn't know what the heck he meant.

To this day, I'm not sure if "take him to the cleaners" was specific to Coach Uselton and that practice field, or a general phrase used by everyone in the world. And I'm not sure why it would be a cleaners, and not, say, a hamburger joint or a sears and roebuck store (those were also on the other side of those trees and that creek).

Anyway, that was just Neyland's way of saying "wrap him up and drive drive drive with your legs, take him all the way out of the play." I don't think you literally have to see the top of Ayers Hall for those instructions to remain valid. It should be alright. :)

Even if the players don't understand the meaning any better than I did as a kid, it'll work out.

Heh.

Go Vols!
Click to expand...
Nice post! I like your writing style.
 
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