Neyland Full Capacity Reduced?

#26
#26
Capacity has been below 100k for years. There are only 98k seats

The 102,455 includes every single person inside the stadium. Players, coaches, cheerleaders, cops, ushers, concession workers
This. The 2 bowls hold a little over 96K. Add in the skyboxes it may get to 98K.

102,455 is a "sold out atmosphere" figure. It includes everyone on the stadium grounds: fans, players, coaches, EMS, Police, ushers, concessions, custodial, etc.

There aren't 102,455 seats in Neyland.
 
#27
#27
Last game I was at was Oklahoma in 2015. While it was a great experience we were crammed in there like sardines. I’m not sure I would want to do that every week. Yeah I’ve gotten older but I can’t imagine that’s comfortable for anyone.
I’d gladly pay more for more room.
 
#29
#29
I do think a study would be in order. JMHO, but I am not sure, going forward, college football games anywhere will regularly draw the kinds of crowds they used to. The TV experience has just gotten so good, for one thing. Ticket prices continue to escalate. Parking is a chore. Concessions are absurdly overpriced. Covid has changed attitudes toward mass events too.

Cramming 105,000 people into a stadium, where they get a 12" by 12" section of aluminum bench to sit on, and someone else's knees in their back for 3 or 4 hours, is not appealing to a lot of people.

Lowering the capacity but providing a more comfortable, quality experience, would be a good thing.

Here is a picture of what Nebraska has done. I think this is the way to go. Allow the fan experience be of equal value to the ticket prices.

Memorial-Stadium-2.jpg
 
#31
#31
I’m all for reducing capacity. I don’t understand the “keep us above 100k” crowd. We are already under 100k seats for one.
The game day experience just isn’t that great anymore. The bleachers/leg room sucks, the product on the field is garbage, the bathrooms are terrible, the trash piped music.. then figure in ticket/travel/hotel costs and it’s just not worth it to many people.
Reduce capacity to whatever number will get chairbacks installed throughout the stadium, fix the place up and make the experience better. No one gives a fu** about “100k” anymore.
 
#32
#32
According to Danny White, with the new projects to Neyland, it's looking like capacity may potentially dip below 100k.

Personally I have a lot of pride knowing that our stadium is one of the biggest in the country and I do feel like it's special to be over that 100,000 mark. I was at the oklahoma game in 2015 with 100k strong and I don't know if I've ever been in an environment like that.

I'd be curious as to everyone else's thoughts. How would you feel if Neyland was smaller than 100k?

Here's Danny's quote:
"One of the things I keep saying in our meetings, ” White said, I don’t want to be the person that determines how important being over or under 100,000 is. That’s going to be a topic of conversation as we engage in survey work and focus groups with football season-ticket holders.
“I’d like to know what our fans think about that. I need more analysis of what attendance looked like when we were good. We certainly don’t want to reduce too much and wish we had more seats when we get good again because we have every intention of doing that and competing for SEC and national championships."
“But there’s kind of a give and take there for the types of amenities we know fans want. The North end zone party deck and lower West club, there is seat reduction there. How much … is something we’ll be working on in coming months.’’

Source: Jimmy's Blog: Two projects will reduce Neyland Stadium capacity next year

Not something I think about or get concerned about. The state the program is in they can't fill an 80K seat stadium.. Gonna be harder to sell season tickets as each year passes..
 
#33
#33
I’m all for reducing capacity. I don’t understand the “keep us above 100k” crowd. We are already under 100k seats for one.
The game day experience just isn’t that great anymore. The bleachers/leg room sucks, the product on the field is garbage, the bathrooms are terrible, the trash piped music.. then figure in ticket/travel/hotel costs and it’s just not worth it to many people.
Reduce capacity to whatever number will get chairbacks installed throughout the stadium, fix the place up and make the experience better. No one gives a fu** about “100k” anymore.
Having the biggest stadium doesn't mean a damn thing. Has absolutely nothing to do with the performance of the team. I personally think we should tear down the south upper deck and build a concrete veranda around the top of the lower deck. Put some high quality concessions and big modern bathrooms there as well.
 
#34
#34
This is just the way of the world, stadiums are focusing more on quality over quantity and I think it would be great to see Neyland get a full renovation to modernize it. I personally would like to see them rip out the bleachers and put in actual seats, if that costs us 10-15k seats I'm okay with that.
Exactly! So f'ing what if the stadium drops down to 75-80000? I remember it being plenty loud enough in the early 70s when the capacity was 72,000
 
#36
#36
Neyland stadium is a special place and I’ve been in attendance to some of the largest crowds ever there.

Many things have changed since then to reduce ticket sales from the constant tv presence to bad football.

Reduce capacity doesn’t mean reduced experience. Having attended a more modern stadium I think it’s time we upgrade some things.

Chair backs for every seat are a must. I’ve been in some battle over bleacher space. Fact is 4-5 people who happen to be wider than the 14” painted lone you buy can eliminate a whole seat or two on bleachers. Plus chair backs are just more comfortable.

No one will argue about the terrible restrooms and concourse.

I appreciate the attempt at the new lights but I found them unimpressive. UGA and Bama seem to have that figured out. Not sure why we got the discount version. But hey, you don’t need lights at 12 pm lol.

The sound system was messed up on occasion at the opener. Maybe that’s been fixed. Add a little power to that. (Sorry all you canned music haters).

I’d love to be set up like the Atlanta stadium. Bathroom at every tunnel then a fast stop to food and beverage right there.

Big TV’s at the concessions and in restroom would be nice.

I really hope they make Neyland modern and user friendly.
 
#37
#37
I think there are not 100k fans willing to be there these days...Covid, coaching carousel, transfer portal. Reduce the capacity.
 
#38
#38
I'm okay with reductions to improve the fan experience and to add more premium areas, but I agree--I do not want our capacity to dip below 100K. Our size is what makes us special. We are one of only a handful in the country at that size. We may not be filling the damn thing right now, but if we can string some decent seasons together, I have no doubt we'll get back to selling out again. Some will say it's just a number, but I think it means more...
 
#39
#39
I'm okay with reductions to improve the fan experience and to add more premium areas, but I agree--I do not want our capacity to dip below 100K. Our size is what makes us special. We are one of only a handful in the country at that size. We may not be filling the damn thing right now, but if we can string some decent seasons together, I have no doubt we'll get back to selling out again. Some will say it's just a number, but I think it means more...
Why does the size make us "special"? Does having the biggest house in the neighborhood make the owner "special"? If so, how?
 
#41
#41
According to Danny White, with the new projects to Neyland, it's looking like capacity may potentially dip below 100k.

Personally I have a lot of pride knowing that our stadium is one of the biggest in the country and I do feel like it's special to be over that 100,000 mark. I was at the oklahoma game in 2015 with 100k strong and I don't know if I've ever been in an environment like that.

I'd be curious as to everyone else's thoughts. How would you feel if Neyland was smaller than 100k?

Here's Danny's quote:
"One of the things I keep saying in our meetings, ” White said, I don’t want to be the person that determines how important being over or under 100,000 is. That’s going to be a topic of conversation as we engage in survey work and focus groups with football season-ticket holders.
“I’d like to know what our fans think about that. I need more analysis of what attendance looked like when we were good. We certainly don’t want to reduce too much and wish we had more seats when we get good again because we have every intention of doing that and competing for SEC and national championships."
“But there’s kind of a give and take there for the types of amenities we know fans want. The North end zone party deck and lower West club, there is seat reduction there. How much … is something we’ll be working on in coming months.’’

Source: Jimmy's Blog: Two projects will reduce Neyland Stadium capacity next year

Stadiums everywhere aren't filling up like they used to. Also if people pay a lot of money for tickets, they don't want to be shoe-horned into a tiny seat like the middle airline seat in Spirit Airlines. Probably a demand for more box seats too. Not saying either way but the quality is more important than the quantity and need to find the sweet spot that addresses both.
 
Last edited:
#43
#43
100,000 sounds like a moral victory for some of you.
I don’t give a crap how many, I do give a crap about comfort, and a good view of the field.
I’d rather watch on tv than be 1 of the 15,000 in a 100,000 stadium that has a terrible seat
 
#45
#45
A couple things are true here: stadium capacity is important to a large percentage of the fanbase, and a large portion of the fanbase is presently unwilling to visit Neyland for one reason or another.

If we accept that 102,455 is just a ballpark estimate of how many people are in the stadium during a sellout game, then it doesn't seem too unfathomable to get creative with your calculations so that you can "drop" only ~2,000 seats during these renovations and still claim to have a capacity greater than 100k. Reference a sardine-packed capacity in The Deck, pretend that all concession stands are triple employed, whatever; Danny White should be able to find a way to stay above the mythical 100k figure if it's important to Tennessee fans.
 
#46
#46
That proves everything needs to go back to the drawi g board!
 
#47
#47
Until the product on the field improves SIGNIFICANTLY, it doesn't matter what the capacity is or the ticket price. Vandy has a small stadium, usually full of more away fans with still plenty of empties and they can't give away tickets.
 
Advertisement



Back
Top