Neyland Stadium

Tennessee's football team played at Wait Field (where the Walters Life Science Building now stands) from 1908 to 1920

The Tennessee Volunteers football team originally played at Baldwin Park, which was once located between Grand Avenue and Dale Avenue, north of Fort Sanders.^[7] From 1908 to 1920, the team played at Wait Field, which was located where the Walters Life Science Building now stands.^[7]

The stadium was first conceived in 1919. Colonel W.S. Shields, president of Knoxville's City National Bank and a University of Tennessee trustee, provided the initial capital to prepare and equip an athletic field. Thus, when the original stadium – the lower level of the current stadium's West Stands – was completed in March 1921, it was called Shields–Watkins Field in honor of the donor and his wife, Alice Watkins-Shields.^[8] However, the project ran out of funds and was suspended temporarily until MacGregor Smith suggested at a meeting of the university's Scarabbean Senior Society in mid 1921 that the students and faculty finish the project together. At the group's behest, students and faculty finished the field over a two-day period. An invitational track meet was then held as a celebration and thus became the very first event at Neyland Stadium.^[9] The first UT football game at the stadium took place on September 24, 1921, with the Vols defeating Emory & Henry, 27–0.^[6] The first night game at Neyland Stadium was played on September 16, 1972, with the Vols defeating Penn State, 28–21.^[6]

The stadium was named after General Robert Neyland in 1962

In 1962, the stadium was renamed Neyland Stadium in honor of General Robert Neyland, the recently deceased former athletic director and coach. Neyland, the man credited with making the Vols a national football power, coached the team from 1926 to 1952, with two interruptions for military service. In 1968, the stadium became one of the first stadiums to have an AstroTurf surface. It stayed until natural grass was restored to the field in 1994. Reflecting the Vols' growth in stature, the stadium's capacity jumped more than 14-fold during his 38-year association with UT as either an assistant coach (1925), head coach (three separate tenures from 1926 to 1952), or athletic director (1946–1962). By comparison, when it had originally been built in 1921, it was not even a fraction the size of Tennessee's largest football stadium at the time, Vanderbilt's Dudley Field. Shortly before his death, he spearheaded the stadium's first major expansion. The plans he drafted were so far ahead of their time that they have formed the basis for every expansion since then. The playing surface is still named Shields–Watkins Field.

The latest additions and updates to the facility were part of a $136.4 million series of renovations, beginning in 2004 and completed by 2010. They included the bricking around the field and the removal of the previous hedges, numerous changes to the inside and outside of the stadium structure, additions and reconfigurations of seating areas, as well as new home locker, press, and varsity rooms.^[4][10][11]

In a Spring 2001 poll in The Sporting News, Neyland Stadium was ranked as the nation's #1 college football stadium. In 2004, Sports Illustrated ranked Neyland Stadium, the University of Tennessee campus, and the surrounding Knoxville area, as the best college football weekend experience. On April 8, 2009, it was announced that Neyland Stadium was one of seventy stadiums named for the United States' bid to either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup.

Attendance records

Attendance has been recorded for Tennessee Volunteer football games at Neyland Stadium since 1946.^[12] Average attendance since that year has been 68,925 fans per game.^[12] The largest crowd ever recorded at Neyland Stadium was 109,061 on September 18, 2004, when Tennessee defeated Florida, 30–28.^[12] Tennessee set a school record by averaging 107,595 fans per home game in 2000.

The crowd for a Tennessee v Alabama game in 2012

Vols' performance at Neyland

Through week one of the 2022 season, the Tennessee Volunteers football team had compiled a record of 485 wins, 141 losses, and 17 ties at Neyland, for a winning percentage of .767.^[6] The team has had 37 perfect home records, the last coming in the 2022 season.^[6] The team's longest home winning streak was 30, set between December 8, 1928, and October 21, 1933.^[6] The Vols have never had more than four consecutive losses at Neyland Stadium.^[6]

Other uses

Neyland Stadium is occasionally used for concerts, political rallies, and religious gatherings. One of Neyland Stadium's most notable non-sporting events took place in May 1970, when the stadium hosted the Billy Graham Crusade, with President Richard Nixon as a guest speaker. The event occurred just three weeks after the Kent State shootings, at the height of the anti-war movement, and several anti-war protestors were arrested for trying to disrupt the event.^[13] The Jacksons performed three concerts at Neyland Stadium in August 1984, during their Victory Tour. East Tennessee native Kenny Chesney performed in Neyland Stadium in June 2003.^[14]

Neyland Stadium has hosted several NFL exhibition games, most recently in 1995, when the Washington Redskins played the Houston Oilers.^[15] The Knox County Football Jamboree, a preseason event for local high school teams, was held annually at the stadium until 2013.^[16] The discontinuation of the Jamboree at Neyland Stadium was due in part to maintaining the condition of the field in the month prior to the beginning of college football.^[17]

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Scarabbean Senior Society

Scarabbean Senior Society

The Scarabbean Secret Society, with members known as “Scarabs,” is an honor society at the University of Tennessee. The group, established in 1915, has operated largely in secrecy despite being either wholly or partly responsible for many events, traditions, and activities in student life, athletics, and academics. The main developments of the Scarab had a powerful and secret character, they carried all the technologies of fractals and magnetism. A member of the Scarab has a tattoo, knows how to change the width of the pupil, knows the secrets of the disclosure of colors, the time cycle. The group's motto is “To Be Nameless in Worthy Deeds.”

1972 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

1972 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

The 1972 Penn State Nittany Lions represented Pennsylvania State University in the 1972 NCAA University Division football season. As a result of using ineligible players, the Oklahoma Sooners were ordered to forfeit seven wins from their 1972 season, including their on-field win over the Nittany Lions. However, Paterno and Penn State refused to accept the forfeit, and the bowl game is officially recorded as a loss.

Robert Neyland

Robert Neyland

Robert Reese Neyland was an American football player and coach and officer in the United States Army, reaching the rank of brigadier general. He served three stints as the head football coach at the University of Tennessee (UT) from 1926 to 1934, 1936 to 1940, and 1946 to 1952. He is one of two college football coaches to have won national titles in two non-consecutive tenures at the same school, along with Frank Leahy of the University of Notre Dame. Neyland holds the record for most wins in Tennessee Volunteers history with 173 wins in 216 games, six undefeated seasons, nine undefeated regular seasons, seven conference championships, and four national championships. At UT, he reeled off undefeated streaks of 33, 28, 23, 19, and 14 games.

AstroTurf

AstroTurf

AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has marketed taller pile systems that use infill materials to better replicate natural turf. In 2016, AstroTurf became a subsidiary of German-based SportGroup, a family of sports surfacing companies, which itself is owned by the investment firm Equistone Partners Europe.

Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated (SI) is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice. It is also known for its annual swimsuit issue, which has been published since 1964, and has spawned other complementary media works and products.

University of Tennessee

University of Tennessee

The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, it is the flagship campus of the University of Tennessee system, with ten undergraduate colleges and eleven graduate colleges. It hosts more than 30,000 students from all 50 states and more than 100 foreign countries. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".

2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bids

2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bids

The bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups was the process by which the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) selected locations for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups. The process began officially in March 2009; eleven bids from thirteen countries were received, including one which was withdrawn and one that was rejected before FIFA's executive committee voted in November 2010. Two of the remaining nine bids applied only to the 2022 World Cup, while the rest were initially applications for both. Over the course of the bidding, all non-European bids for the 2018 event were withdrawn, resulting in the exclusion of all European bids from consideration for the 2022 edition. By the time of the decision, bids for the 2018 World Cup included England, Russia, a joint bid from Belgium and Netherlands, and a joint bid from Portugal and Spain. Bids for the 2022 World Cup came from Australia, Japan, Qatar, South Korea, and the United States. Indonesia's bid was disqualified due to lack of governmental support, and Mexico withdrew its bid for financial reasons.

Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was the 36th vice president from 1953 to 1961 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. His five years in the White House saw reduction of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, the first crewed Moon landings, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Nixon's second term ended early, when he became the only president to resign from office, as a result of the Watergate scandal.

Kent State shootings

Kent State shootings

The Kent State shootings, also known as the May 4 massacre and the Kent State massacre, were the killings of four and wounding of nine other unarmed Kent State University students by the Ohio National Guard on May 4, 1970, in Kent, Ohio, 40 mi (64 km) south of Cleveland. The killings took place during a peace rally opposing the expanding involvement of the Vietnam War into Cambodia by United States military forces as well as protesting the National Guard presence on campus. The incident marked the first time a student was killed in an anti-war gathering in United States history.

East Tennessee

East Tennessee

East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 counties, 30 located within the Eastern Time Zone and three counties in the Central Time Zone, namely Bledsoe, Cumberland, and Marion. East Tennessee is entirely located within the Appalachian Mountains, although the landforms range from densely forested 6,000-foot (1,800 m) mountains to broad river valleys. The region contains the major cities of Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tennessee's third and fourth largest cities, respectively, and the Tri-Cities, the state's sixth largest population center.

Kenny Chesney

Kenny Chesney

Kenneth Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has recorded more than 20 albums and has produced more than 40 Top 10 singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, 32 of which have reached number one. Many of these have also charted within the Top 40 of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, making him one of the most successful crossover country artists. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide.

National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and the highest professional level of American football in the world. Each NFL season begins with a three-week preseason in August, followed by the 18-week regular season which runs from early September to early January, with each team playing 17 games and having one bye week. Following the conclusion of the regular season, seven teams from each conference advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination tournament that culminates in the Super Bowl, which is contested in February and is played between the AFC and NFC conference champions. The league is headquartered in New York City.

Growth

Shields–Watkins Field opened in 1921 with a single grandstand along the west sideline–the lower portion of the current facility's West Stands–having a capacity of 3,200. The East Stands were added five years later in 1926 to increase capacity to 6,800. The West Stands were increased from 17 rows to 42 rows in 1930, increasing capacity to 17,860.^[6]

In 1937, a small row of seats (called North Section X) was constructed across the north end zone, adding 1,500 seats. The next year, in 1938, the East Stands were expanded to 44 rows. The capacity after these expansions was 31,390.^[6]

In 1948, the south end zone was enclosed in a "horseshoe" style (see Harvard Stadium for an example) with 15,000 seats, bringing total capacity to 46,290.^[6]

Several expansions were undertaken in the 1960s. First, in 1962, the West Stands were double-decked, adding 5,837 seats and a press box. In 1966 North Section X was replaced by a grandstand (the North Stands) with 5,895 seats. In 1968, the East Stands were double-decked as well (6,307), bringing total capacity to 64,429.^[6]

The two Upper Decks were connected to fully enclose the south end zone during two expansions in 1972 and 1976. The 1972 Southwest Upper Deck addition extended the West Upper Deck to the south by 6,221 seats, and the 1976 Southeast Upper Deck addition extended the East Upper Deck to the south by 9,600, giving contiguous upper seating around three sides, and increasing total capacity to 80,250.^[6]

In 1980, the North Stands were rebuilt, netting a capacity increase of 10,999 seats. It also enclosed the north end zone in a "bowl" style (see Rose Bowl and Yale Bowl for examples). A net loss of seats in 1987 to accommodate the West Executive Suites construction was more than offset by a student seating adjustment in 1990, increasing capacity to a total of 91,902.^[6]

In 1996, the last major expansion was completed with the North Upper Deck to fully enclose the upper level, giving a net gain of 10,642 seats. A 1997 seating adjustment to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was followed by addition of the East Executive Suites, topping total capacity at 104,037 in 2000.^[6]

The addition of the East and West Club Seats in 2006 and 2009, respectively, decreased the total capacity to 100,011. In 2010, the completion of the Tennessee Terrace raised stadium capacity to its current total of 102,455 people.^[6]

2004–2010 renovations

In 2004, the University of Tennessee implemented the Neyland Stadium Master Plan, a long-term strategy for expanding, renovating, and maintaining the stadium. The plan called for the addition of club seats, widening of concourses, creation of entry plazas, and updates to the stadium's infrastructure.^[18] The estimated $200 million renovations, which will be carried out over a series of several phases, are to be funded entirely by private donations and revenue generated from priority and club seats.^[18]

Phase I of the master plan, completed in 2006 at a cost of $26 million, involved the addition of the East Club Seats, renovation and widening of the north lower concourse, the addition of LED signage, and the addition of extra restrooms and concessions.^[19] The East Club Seats, built on the East Upper Deck, includes 422 seats and an adjoining club room overlooking the Tennessee River.^[19]

View from the northeast sideline as UT hosted WKU on September 5, 2009

Phase II of the master plan, completed in 2008 at a cost of $27.4 million, involved the renovation and widening of the west lower concourse, renovations to the Peyton Manning Locker Complex and the concourse connecting it with Shields–Watkins Field, and the construction of the Lauricella Center for Letter Winners and the Stokely Family Media Room.^[20] The Lauricella Center for Letter Winners, named for Vol All American running back Hank Lauricella, sits adjacent to the locker complex, and provides a gathering area for athletes, coaches, and their family members. The Stokely Family Media Room provides a setting for press conferences and coach and player interviews.^[20]

Neyland Stadium at homecoming, prior to Phase III renovations in 2010

Phase III of the master plan, completed in 2010 at a cost of $83 million, included the construction of the West Club Seats, improvements to the Executive Suites and press box, renovations to the west top level concourse, the addition of elevators and stairwells to the West Side, the creation of the Gate 21 Plaza and other entry plazas, the construction of the Tennessee Terrace, and the installation of a statue of General Neyland, created by sculptor Blair Buswell, to the west entrance.^[4] The West Club Seats are similar to the East Club Seats, with 422 seats and an adjoining club room. The Tennessee Terrace features 1,782 priority seats, with an adjacent climate-controlled concourse area, overlooking the west sideline.^[21]

Phases IV and V will involve renovation of the south and east concourses and the creation of an entry plaza at Gate 10.^[22]

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Harvard Stadium

Harvard Stadium

Harvard Stadium is a U-shaped college football stadium in the northeast United States, located in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The stadium is owned and operated by Harvard University and is home to the Harvard Crimson football program. The stadium's seating capacity is 30,323.

Rose Bowl (stadium)

Rose Bowl (stadium)

The Rose Bowl is an outdoor athletic stadium located in Pasadena, California. Opened in October 1922, the stadium is recognized as a National Historic Landmark and a California Historic Civil Engineering landmark. At a modern capacity of an all-seated configuration at 92,542, the Rose Bowl is the 16th-largest stadium in the world, the 11th-largest stadium in the United States, and the 10th-largest NCAA stadium. The stadium is 10 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.

Yale Bowl

Yale Bowl

The Yale Bowl Stadium is a college football stadium in the northeast United States, located in New Haven, Connecticut, on the border of West Haven, about 1½ miles west of the main campus of Yale University. The home of the American football team of the Yale Bulldogs of the Ivy League, it opened in 1914 with 70,896 seats; renovations have reduced its current capacity to 61,446, still making it the second largest FCS stadium, behind Tennessee State's Nissan Stadium. The Yale Bowl Stadium inspired the design and naming of the Rose Bowl, from which is derived the name of college football's post-season games and the NFL's Super Bowl.

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, and other characteristics illegal, and later sexual orientation and gender identity. In addition, unlike the Civil Rights Act, the ADA also requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities, and imposes accessibility requirements on public accommodations.

Tennessee River

Tennessee River

The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles (1,049 km) long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, as the Cherokee people had their homelands along its banks, especially in what are now East Tennessee and northern Alabama. Additionally, its tributary, the Little Tennessee River, flows into it from Western North Carolina and northeastern Georgia, where the river also was bordered by numerous Cherokee towns. Its current name is derived from the Cherokee town, Tanasi, which was located on the Tennessee side of the Appalachian Mountains.

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football program is a college football team that represents Western Kentucky University. The team competes at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level and represents the university as a member of Conference USA in the Eastern division. The 2002 team was the FCS national champion. The program has 13 conference championships and 6 FBS-level bowl game victories. The Hilltoppers play their home games at Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium in Bowling Green, Kentucky and the team's head football coach is Tyson Helton.

Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning

Peyton Williams Manning is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and four with the Denver Broncos. Manning is considered to be one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. A member of the Manning football dynasty, he is the second son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning and an older brother of former NFL quarterback Eli Manning. He played college football at Tennessee, where he won the Maxwell, Davey O'Brien, and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Awards as a senior en route to victory in the 1997 SEC Championship.

Hank Lauricella

Hank Lauricella

Francis Edward Lauricella, known as Hank Lauricella, was a real estate developer from suburban New Orleans, Louisiana, a college football legend, and a member of both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature.

Blair Buswell

Blair Buswell

Blair Buswell is an American artist who specializes in sports sculptures and has created almost 100 of the Pro Football Hall of Fame busts.

South side of Neyland Stadium as the sun sets

From 1921 to the end of the 1967 season, the field surface was natural grass. In 1964, the orange-and-white checkerboard end zones were added. This was one of the many changes initiated by new head coach Doug Dickey, who also added the "T" logo to the football helmet and initiated the tradition of the team running onto the field through the "Power T" formed by the Pride of the Southland Band, and moved the Tennessee bench from the east side line to the west side line.

In 1968, coinciding with the addition of the East Upper Deck, Tennessee-Turf (TartanTurf-3M) was installed as the playing surface, in part to provide better drainage following heavy rains. The checkerboard end zones were initially not included as part of the Tennessee-Turf playing surface. End zone designs used through the years on the artificial surface included having TENNESSEE and VOLUNTEERS in orange turf lettering and the end zone green turf. The end zones, as well as the midfield logo, were unique in that they were separate pieces of contrasting turf rather than painted turf. The artificial surface, as many from this era, was blamed for excessive leg injuries. In 1989, the orange-and-white checkerboard end zone patterns were restored, and an interlocking "UT" was placed at midfield.

The artificial surface was used through the 1993 season, the last game on the surface being a 62–14 win over Vanderbilt. Afterwards the surface was ripped up and sections were auctioned off to raise funds for the university. The turf was replaced with natural grass the following year, with the checkerboard end zones and midfield logo retained. In 1998, the interlocking "UT" was replaced with the same Power T logo as seen on the football helmets. Since 2007, the entire surface gets re-sodded annually with Tifway Bermuda grass, which rests on a 12-inch bed of sand to enhance drainage.

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  Pre-renovation aerial view, including part of UT campus, Henley Street Bridge, Gay Street Bridge, and the Tennessee River

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  West Side tower as viewed from Peyton Manning Pass, near the completion of Phase III renovations

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  View from the East Stands of the Pride of the Southland Marching Band's famous pregame show

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  Empty Neyland Stadium, viewed from the Southeast Upper Deck

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  Construction of Gate 21 Plaza, the northwest entrance

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  Construction of the amphitheater next to Alumni Memorial Building

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  Ground view, Gate 21 Plaza construction

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  Aerial view from John C. Hodges Library

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  Elevated view of the completed West Side

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  View from campus of the new Gate 21 Plaza and the West Side tower

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  Statue of Robert Neyland