Neyland Stadium South End Zone Renovations

Looks like something is about to be announced...

When Phillip Fulmer expects Tennessee's Neyland Stadium renovation to begin

This is what we should do (minus the dressing room). It gets rid of the upper deck that we can’t sell tickets in, opens the stadium to the iconic view of the river and makes room for a new, larger size video board (move the old one to the north side).

View attachment 209973
No, just no. They need to figure out how to gain more room in the corners but keep it basically like it is. If you want to sacrifice capacity, make the bleacher spaces bigger and keep the upper deck.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tbh and VolDave53
No I wasn't. I was proposing that we open up the south endzone with a new structure that was similar to what they just built.

I have been to EVERY stadium in the SEC recently and Neyland is lagging behind from a structural and maintenance standpoint... Sanford Stadium, Bryant-Denney, Shug Jordan and Kyle Field are much better in that regard. It's embarrassing to me to see the condition of the east and south stands, They should have never been allowed to deteriorate to the condition they are now.

[QUOTE="IndianapolisVol, post: 16875911, member: 62663"
Of all of the stadiums in the southeastern conference the OP chose Sanford Stadium as an example of a stadium that we should aspire to be like, which is completely wild to me.[/QUOTE]
 
If they would try to schedule some games against some real teams you would see attendance and recruiting improve. Who wants to see OVC or Sunbelt games at $60/ ticket or more. There is much better football on the big screen at home. Majors wasn’t afraid to play power 5 conferences for OOC games. I remember one year we played Pitt, USC and our SEC schedule. Now, outside of one or two SEC marquee games, the schedule at Neyland is pretty lame for watching college football. And it is way overpriced.
 
I guess it is just the time or generation but when I was young it didn’t matter who they bad, how bad they were or where they played. Fans went and supported this team. People back then realized that we only had 11 games a year and a bowl game most years. You didn’t miss because they were playing Texas El Paso, Pacific or any team like that. We went because we loved the team and wanted to watch their games. Traffic, weather, crowds or the cost didn’t matter. I went to Arkansas in 99 and noticed how many Vol fans were there. It was a 11 am game in Fayetteville. I did noticed most fans were over 50 or older. I knew at that point that the days of fans traveling and supporting this team would eventually die out. Now 20 years they have, they have to have a reason to go to the game.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nickid1975
No I wasn't. I was proposing that we open up the south endzone with a new structure that was similar to what they just built.

I have been to EVERY stadium in the SEC recently and Neyland is lagging behind from a structural and maintenance standpoint... Sanford Stadium, Bryant-Denney, Shug Jordan and Kyle Field are much better in that regard. It's embarrassing to me to see the condition of the east and south stands, They should have never been allowed to deteriorate to the condition they are now.

[QUOTE="IndianapolisVol, post: 16875911, member: 62663"
Of all of the stadiums in the southeastern conference the OP chose Sanford Stadium as an example of a stadium that we should aspire to be like, which is completely wild to me.
[/QUOTE]


Well Kyle Field is a brand friggin new stadium. How can you compare that to Neyland? And Bama is flush with multiple championships and the cash that comes from that. Again, cant compare. I remember when UT won the NC and they installed the jumbo tron.

A decade of lousy football is the thing they need to renovate. Pump 60 million into recruiting and paying for players and UT will be fine. If you win, people will come and the money will follow.
 
^^This^^
Yep, student body is getting soft. Maybe just us old farts reminiscing. Think this era of student could stand to watch football behind a chicken fence? (Now actually, this is waaaay before my time, but it shows how things have changed).. CLICK ON PICS to make larger.
View attachment 210088
View attachment 210089
View attachment 210090

The UT 59 photo made me look at the modern Neyland. Were seats added at the bottom of I-P? Look at the arc from the UT 59 photo vs. now. The tunnel at the 50 yard line hasn't moved.

image
 
The UT 59 photo made me look at the modern Neyland. Were seats added at the bottom of I-P? Look at the arc from the UT 59 photo vs. now. The tunnel at the 50 yard line hasn't moved.
image

Your picture above.. I actually cropped the picture. Here's a better look at the South Endzone. Notice where the step were at the end of the aisle and you could walk down to field level.

Also notice no padding on goal posts.
UTvsUA_circa_50.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Boca Vol
LOL! BTW, Kyle Field is only half new.

Well Kyle Field is a brand friggin new stadium. How can you compare that to Neyland? And Bama is flush with multiple championships and the cash that comes from that. Again, cant compare. I remember when UT won the NC and they installed the jumbo tron.
A decade of lousy football is the thing they need to renovate. Pump 60 million into recruiting and paying for players and UT will be fine. If you win, people will come and the money will follow.
 
Is it? They pretty much re-built the whole thing.

Their student section and one of their endzones was basically untouched on the inside part of the stadium but the entire exterior and most of the under part of the stadium is completely renovated/new
 
How many of you know that when the land was donated for the football field that the contract stated the North end was to remain open where students would be able to sit on the hill and watch games?

Then, in the 80's when they went to put in the upper deck, they had to actually go back to court to have that changed.
Can you substantiate that ? I've heard versions of that story for 40 years but have never seen any real evidence of it.

And the upper deck in the north endzone was added in 1996 not the 80's. The lower bowl was added in 1980.
 
Their student section and one of their endzones was basically untouched on the inside part of the stadium but the entire exterior and most of the under part of the stadium is completely renovated/new

I watched the youtube time lapse and it was damn impressive. You could drive a small car between the rows in the upper deck plus the benches have an uptick back brace which was nice. Nice stadium!
 
I wouldn't know who TN uses for sports management studies or who the sample is. But many Universities outsource for studies aimed at combating less attendance to sporting events. We (Lee University) hired an outside firm to study the feasibility of bringing a football program to our school. It's just part of day to day business to do this.

Go Vikings. Go Flames
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sara Clark
Everyone wants the biggest stadium, understood.

Right now the trend is that less fans are actually going to the games (both pro and college). For example, the Denver Broncos sold out home games for 20 straight years; during some really bad teams too. But that string was broken (kneelers didn't help either).

Therefore, the stadium experience has to be top notch: Seating, Wi-Fi, food, drinks, private boxes, jumbotrons, bathrooms etc.

I would bench mark off of the Atlanta Falcons stadium. Especially having monitors everywhere and highly affordable food and snack menu.
 
Everyone wants the biggest stadium, understood.

Right now the trend is that less fans are actually going to the games (both pro and college). For example, the Denver Broncos sold out home games for 20 straight years; during some really bad teams too. But that string was broken (kneelers didn't help either).

Therefore, the stadium experience has to be top notch: Seating, Wi-Fi, food, drinks, private boxes, jumbotrons, bathrooms etc.

I would bench mark off of the Atlanta Falcons stadium. Especially having monitors everywhere and highly affordable food and snack menu.
I agree with affordable food and nice bathrooms. But people started complaining about Neyland when they added the Jumbotron and inserting a commercial after what seemed to be every play. That is another factor that helped kill the fan experience. People were watching the Jumbotron and not the game.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tbh


Well Kyle Field is a brand friggin new stadium. How can you compare that to Neyland? And Bama is flush with multiple championships and the cash that comes from that. Again, cant compare. I remember when UT won the NC and they installed the jumbo tron.

A decade of lousy football is the thing they need to renovate. Pump 60 million into recruiting and paying for players and UT will be fine. If you win, people will come and the money will follow.[/QUOTE]
So neyland should only be compared to new stadiums?? Regardless of the age of the stadium, Tennessee fans should not have to attend games in a stadium as outdated and filthy as the current South end zone conditions.
 
Kyle Field was partially or mostly reconstructed, depending on your interpretation. So is Bryant-Denny.

The comparison to them and others was to point out that we are behind in the race for the ‘nicest/best’ stadium in the SEC. The JumboTron is paid for by advertisers and now controlled by IMG - it’s completely separate from the stadium budget, other than the income stream it produces.

Well Kyle Field is a brand friggin new stadium. How can you compare that to Neyland? And Bama is flush with multiple championships and the cash that comes from that. Again, cant compare. I remember when UT won the NC and they installed the jumbo tron.

A decade of lousy football is the thing they need to renovate. Pump 60 million into recruiting and paying for players and UT will be fine. If you win, people will come and the money will follow.
So neyland should only be compared to new stadiums?? Regardless of the age of the stadium, Tennessee fans should not have to attend games in a stadium as outdated and filthy as the current South end zone conditions.[/QUOTE]
 
Can you substantiate that ? I've heard versions of that story for 40 years but have never seen any real evidence of it.

And the upper deck in the north endzone was added in 1996 not the 80's. The lower bowl was added in 1980.
Yup. I’m just old enough to remember the north being open.
 
Can you substantiate that ? I've heard versions of that story for 40 years but have never seen any real evidence of it.

And the upper deck in the north endzone was added in 1996 not the 80's. The lower bowl was added in 1980.

Honestly, I did try to find that years ago but haven't googled for it in a long time. Supposedly, the plans for expansion and court proceedings began in the 80's and it took many years for it to finally happen. Seems to me I heard about it when I attended my first game in Neyland. I was amazed at the stadium. Had never seen anything like it before. That was in '90 and that was when I first heard about it.
 
Kyle Field was partially or mostly reconstructed, depending on your interpretation. So is Bryant-Denny.

The comparison to them and others was to point out that we are behind in the race for the ‘nicest/best’ stadium in the SEC. The JumboTron is paid for by advertisers and now controlled by IMG - it’s completely separate from the stadium budget, other than the income stream it produces.


So neyland should only be compared to new stadiums?? Regardless of the age of the stadium, Tennessee fans should not have to attend games in a stadium as outdated and filthy as the current South end zone conditions.
[/QUOTE]
If you are renovating , you should upgrade to the current standards. If you don't, why renovate at all? It would be a waste of money to do a half-ass job.
 
If you are renovating , you should upgrade to the current standards. If you don't, why renovate at all? It would be a waste of money to do a half-ass job.


There are construction constraints based on existing conditions, that could appear to be doing it half-assed. Estabrook Hall and the Alumni Gym were obstacles they had to work around when building the upper deck.
Texas A&M didn't do it half-assed. Here is what they did, and I don't see that happening at Neyland any time soon:
 
  • Like
Reactions: UTVOLFAN

VN Store



Back
Top