Neyland Stadium

#51
#51
Do you think we should reduce seating capacity to about 84,000 or 80,000 and install bigger and more comfortable seats and install more modem stadium comforts for the fans. It seems to me that Neyland is pretty outdated now compared to other SEC stadiums.
Of course not. How soon we forget. Only five years ago UT and Va. Tech fans put 156,990 butts in seats at Bristol.
Battle at Bristol breaks CFB attendance record
Nothing's really changed during those few short years as far as fan interest and demand is concerned. All we need is a winning football team. Hopefully, we have one this time.
 
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#52
#52
Yep, I’d be all for tearing out the bleachers. I personally don’t give a sh** about the fake 102k number.

In our glory days, there weren't enough seats. those days will return, I believe. Maybe not in my life probably. That is what is wrong in today's world. Lack of hope
 
#53
#53
In our glory days, there weren't enough seats. those days will return, I believe. Maybe not in my life probably. That is what is wrong in today's world. Lack of hope

My reasoning doesn’t have anything to do with us being terrible. I just don’t find the capacity number as some source of pride. I’d prefer to have a better game day experience. The bleachers and people around me digging their knees in my back or overlapping onto your 8” seat space is garbage. Just my opinion though.
 
#54
#54
My reasoning doesn’t have anything to do with us being terrible. I just don’t find the capacity number as some source of pride. I’d prefer to have a better game day experience. The bleachers and people around me digging their knees in my back or overlapping onto your 8” seat space is garbage. Just my opinion though.
This. Sanford Stadium holds 92K, hasn’t held UGA back any recently
 
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#55
#55
Based on these new diagrams and if they are still using 102,455 as capacity (there aren't 102,455 seats in Neyland, not even close) then the "capacity" could be below 100K. The box seats along the sidelines, the field level club, and the N. Endzone plaza will eat into that figure.
 
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#57
#57
This is depressing. Wish they’d offset this by making a space for real Tennessee fans. Like a second student section but not for actual students
 
#58
#58
Of course not. How soon we forget. Only five years ago UT and Va. Tech fans put 156,990 butts in seats at Bristol.
Battle at Bristol breaks CFB attendance record
Nothing's really changed during those few short years as far as fan interest and demand is concerned. All we need is a winning football team. Hopefully, we have one this time.
Most people just went for the novelty of a football game at a race track and being part of a world record. Having experienced the living hell that was getting in and out of that game, I can say with 100% certainty I will never go to a game there again, if there is one.
 
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#59
#59
It seems to me that Neyland is pretty outdated now compared to other SEC stadiums.

This. The only part of the stadium that's nice is the front/home entrance (and maybe the box office areas). The rest is worn out, rusted, and heavily out dated.

But, to be fair, UT's problems aren't the stadium . . . it's what's in it. Fix that, then fix the stadium.
 
#60
#60
That doesn’t happen when we are winning or have hope.. I think there is a lot of positivity and hope for this season and going forward
I’ve got news for you - there aren’t actually 100k seats in the stadium now. They count staff to get to that 102,455 number. There are only 98,000 real seats. Fulmer even admitted this in an interview a couple of years ago.
 
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#61
#61
My reasoning doesn’t have anything to do with us being terrible. I just don’t find the capacity number as some source of pride. I’d prefer to have a better game day experience. The bleachers and people around me digging their knees in my back or overlapping onto your 8” seat space is garbage. Just my opinion though.
Well, I do agree with that. I got really upset when UT narrowed the seat spaces some years ago.
 
#62
#62
Eventually I’d like to see them replace/upgrade the current videoboard and surrounding area on the south side with the club area design proposed for the north end zone and put the partial roof over that side as well. Would make the stadium look great IMO. Getting capacity down to around 90K is probably perfect and you’d be swapping out some of the least desirable seats with upgraded amenities. Stadiums of the future are going to be smaller with nicer and newer amenities. Might as well get ahead of the curve.
I remember one of the past proposals was to add an area on top of the existing scoreboard in the south endzone with standing area, Hightower tables, bar, etc.
 
#63
#63
This. The only part of the stadium that's nice is the front/home entrance (and maybe the box office areas). The rest is worn out, rusted, and heavily out dated.

But, to be fair, UT's problems aren't the stadium . . . it's what's in it. Fix that, then fix the stadium.
I hope our fanbase will be happy with a 7-5 or 8-4 team and 9-3 at best. I don’t think we will ever be top ten revelant again like in the 90’s we just need some consistency of putting together some winning seasons it don’t matter if there 7-5 or 8-4 seasons just no more 4-8 and 5-7 years. Hopefully Heupel can do that and stabilize our program and we can keep a coach longer than 4 seasons
 
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#64
#64
I hope our fanbase will be happy with a 7-5 or 8-4 team and 9-3 at best. I don’t think we will ever be top ten revelant again like in the 90’s we just need some consistency of putting together some winning seasons it don’t matter if there 7-5 or 8-4 seasons just no more 4-8 and 5-7 years. Hopefully Heupel can do that and stabilize our program and we can keep a coach longer than 4 seasons
I disagree. Tennessee has the infrastructure to play with the elites. All that is missing is the recruits. Guess now that we can't pay them anymore, it might be harder, however if we put together a series of 8-4 seasons, it'll go a long way towards getting back in the mix. I am of the opinion we haven't had a true "head coach" that knows what he is doing since Kiffen left, and I have some doubts about Kiffen. If Heupel can coach, and what I mean by that is get good assistants and get out of their way enough so that they can do their job, and have some sort of football IQ, like good clock management and things like that- that are expected of a head coach - we might just do ok.

Remember - Dooley let the clock run down without using timeouts against MO. What a dumass. Butch had it 4th and 1 inch against Oklahoma and went for a field goal. Lost in OT. Also had the future NFL rookie of the year sitting the bench as second string. Pruitt was too stubborn to pull a bad QB, and I don't even need to mention Ga State.

So the bar is set low for Heupel. Surely we can't get the 4th dumass in a row. Can we?
 
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#65
#65
. He was talking about the recruits yea sure it mattered in the 90’s and early 2000’s when we were rolling and good. I don’t think it matters much now however when everybody has a nice big stadium along with the fact that we have been dumpster fire juice for nearly 15 years and counting. The recruits now and high school kids see us as the team that gets blown out and embarrassed at our big stadium three to four times every season.
Actually, there is a correlation between when the administration started tearing out seats to accommodate rich people and the decline of UT football. Neyland is not a the Cathedral of Southern football anymore. Other schools are building larger stadiums and drawing the recruits we were getting. Bama, LSU, and aTm are all larger now and have very nice stadiums. Another issue was changing the times of the Vol Walk and the Pride coming down the hill to accommodate major donors who park in lot 9. The band needs to come down the hill about 45 minutes before kickoff with the students following them in to create a crescendo to the excitement of kickoff. No reason for them to come down two hours earlier. The administration has done a lot to negativity affect the stadium and game day experience for the fans.
 
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#66
#66
Actually, there is a correlation between when the administration started tearing out seats to accommodate rich people and the decline of UT football. Neyland is not a the Cathedral of Southern football anymore. Other schools are building larger stadiums and drawing the recruits we were getting. Bama, LSU, and aTm are all larger now and have very nice stadiums. Another issue was changing the times of the Vol Walk and the Pride coming down the hill to accommodate major donors who park in lot 9. The band needs to come down the hill about 45 minutes before kickoff with the students following them in to create a crescendo to the excitement of kickoff. No reason for them to come down two hours earlier. The administration has done a lot to negativity affect the stadium and game day experience for the fans.
Does sheer size matter more than being proficient in using what you have ?
 
#68
#68
I’ve got news for you - there aren’t actually 100k seats in the stadium now. They count staff to get to that 102,455 number. There are only 98,000 real seats. Fulmer even admitted this in an interview a couple of years ago.

Correct. By my count there are a little over 96,000 seats in the two bowls in Neyland. Factor in the skyboxes and your 98,000 figure is about right. I heard that Fulmer interview and he said something like 102,455 is a "sold-out gameday atmosphere" which would include everyone in the stadium: fans, players, coaches, concessions, EMS, police, ushers, custodians, etc.
 
#69
#69
Of course not. How soon we forget. Only five years ago UT and Va. Tech fans put 156,990 butts in seats at Bristol.
Battle at Bristol breaks CFB attendance record
Nothing's really changed during those few short years as far as fan interest and demand is concerned. All we need is a winning football team. Hopefully, we have one this time.
That was a one-time novelty event. If you held that game vs VT again this September I bet it would draw considerably less fans
 
#70
#70
That was a one-time novelty event. If you held that game vs VT again this September I bet it would draw considerably less fans
If you went to that game and didn’t bring binoculars you pretty much had to watch the Jumbotron to tell what was happening.
 
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#71
#71
I actually preferred the stadium before they enclosed the north endzone upper deck in 1996 cause you had the beautiful view of the smokies rising in the distance and the Tennessee river.

Not sure what you were looking at before the north endzone upperdeck was completed? The river is to the south of the stadium and the only thing behind the North endzone is The Hill. If you were sitting in the right spot, you could see the Admin Bldg tower. Otherwise you were looking the other buildings on the The Hill in the center of the campus.

UT would have been a lot better off over the last 15 years if they had spent less money on the stadium and more money on hiring Head Coaches who were proven winners.
 

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