Sara Clark
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Tennessee is pressing pause on its latest Neyland Stadium renovation project.
Athletic director Phillip Fulmer on Thursday morning announced the University "will continue to review all aspects" of the plan to renovate the remaining outdated parts of the venerable football home of the Vols.
The project was one Fulmer inherited from predecessor when he took the job last December, roughly a month after Tennessee and then-athletic director John Currie announced the initial plans and the University's Board of Trustees approved a two-phase renovation plan with a $340 million price tag.
Those plans were to address need in Neyland's south and east sides.
"To be very clear, I am super excited about the Neyland Stadium project going forward in the near future," Fulmer said Thursday in a statement.
"I have been here 10 months and have studied this major project with everyone concerned. I think it is financially prudent and most responsible to delay the start of construction as we allow Audiology and Speech Pathology, currently in South Stadium Hall, to move in an orderly manner. It also allows us not to have additional expense and time pressures on both the university and athletics.
"We simply need time to study all ideas of scope and design as we seek to maximize the fan experience and our return on investment for the next 100 years of Neyland Stadium. Tennessee has always been committed to having the top facilities in the country, and a review of the project allows for more time to ensure just that."
When the Board of Trustees approved the revised master plan last November, the south end zone was scheduled to be completed before the 2020 football season while work on the east side was scheduled to be done as early as the start of the 2021 season, when Neyland will celebrate its 100th year.
The original plan included expanded concourses, renovated restrooms, club seating at field level and the concourse level in the south end zone, handrails in the upper deck, new video boards above the upper decks in the north and sound end zones as well as continued brick work on the stadium facade and gates.
Original renovation plans were developed in 2004 and included five phases, with three completed before the 2010 season at a cost of nearly $150 million and covered 35 percent of the stadium, including the overhauls of the the Gate 21 area and west concourse.
The price tag for the planned work in the south end zone came in at $180 million, with money coming from athletic revenue, fundraising and debt financing, and the Knoxville News Sentinel reported in May that “as of last fall” $50 million had already been raised for the project.
Fulmer previously addressed the project while speaking to the Knoxville Quarterback Club last month.
“OK, I’m not going to be pushed into it, to make a decision,” Fulmer said. “I’m going to get all the numbers, talk to all the people that have a say in it.
“It’s much more likely to be South End Zone Phase 1, East Side Phase 2 at some point. We made that mistake once before, where we said this is going to do the whole stadium. Well, it did half the stadium and put our university, our finances, in a really tough bind. I’m not going to do that. We’ll raise the money and have most of it in hand before we break ground on anything. That’s the way I’m approaching it.”
Athletic director Phillip Fulmer on Thursday morning announced the University "will continue to review all aspects" of the plan to renovate the remaining outdated parts of the venerable football home of the Vols.
The project was one Fulmer inherited from predecessor when he took the job last December, roughly a month after Tennessee and then-athletic director John Currie announced the initial plans and the University's Board of Trustees approved a two-phase renovation plan with a $340 million price tag.
Those plans were to address need in Neyland's south and east sides.
"To be very clear, I am super excited about the Neyland Stadium project going forward in the near future," Fulmer said Thursday in a statement.
"I have been here 10 months and have studied this major project with everyone concerned. I think it is financially prudent and most responsible to delay the start of construction as we allow Audiology and Speech Pathology, currently in South Stadium Hall, to move in an orderly manner. It also allows us not to have additional expense and time pressures on both the university and athletics.
"We simply need time to study all ideas of scope and design as we seek to maximize the fan experience and our return on investment for the next 100 years of Neyland Stadium. Tennessee has always been committed to having the top facilities in the country, and a review of the project allows for more time to ensure just that."
When the Board of Trustees approved the revised master plan last November, the south end zone was scheduled to be completed before the 2020 football season while work on the east side was scheduled to be done as early as the start of the 2021 season, when Neyland will celebrate its 100th year.
The original plan included expanded concourses, renovated restrooms, club seating at field level and the concourse level in the south end zone, handrails in the upper deck, new video boards above the upper decks in the north and sound end zones as well as continued brick work on the stadium facade and gates.
Original renovation plans were developed in 2004 and included five phases, with three completed before the 2010 season at a cost of nearly $150 million and covered 35 percent of the stadium, including the overhauls of the the Gate 21 area and west concourse.
The price tag for the planned work in the south end zone came in at $180 million, with money coming from athletic revenue, fundraising and debt financing, and the Knoxville News Sentinel reported in May that “as of last fall” $50 million had already been raised for the project.
Fulmer previously addressed the project while speaking to the Knoxville Quarterback Club last month.
“OK, I’m not going to be pushed into it, to make a decision,” Fulmer said. “I’m going to get all the numbers, talk to all the people that have a say in it.
“It’s much more likely to be South End Zone Phase 1, East Side Phase 2 at some point. We made that mistake once before, where we said this is going to do the whole stadium. Well, it did half the stadium and put our university, our finances, in a really tough bind. I’m not going to do that. We’ll raise the money and have most of it in hand before we break ground on anything. That’s the way I’m approaching it.”
