Neyland Stadium

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Neyland Stadium
Shields-Watkins Field
Former names Shields-Watkins Field 1921-1962
Location Phillip Fulmer Way, Knoxville, TN 37996
Coordinates 35°57′18″N 83°55′30″W / 35.955°N 83.925°W / 35.955; -83.925Coordinates: 35°57′18″N 83°55′30″W / 35.955°N 83.925°W / 35.955; -83.925
Broke ground 1921
Opened 1921
Owner State of Tennessee
Operator University of Tennessee
Surface Grass (1921-1967, 1994-present)
Astroturf (1968-1993)
Capacity 102,037
Tenants
Tennessee Volunteers (NCAA) (1921–present)

Neyland Stadium is a sports stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. It serves primarily as the home of the Tennessee Volunteers football team, but is also used to host large conventions and has been a site for several NFL exhibition games with the last between the Washington Redskins and Houston Oilers during the Oilers transition to Nashville in 1998. After 79 years and 16 expansion projects, Neyland Stadium now has an official capacity of 102,037 seats. This makes it the largest football stadium in the South, the fourth largest in the United States, and the seventh largest stadium in the world.

Contents

[edit] History

Neyland Stadium was first conceived in 1919. Col. 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.

In 1962, the stadium was renamed Neyland Stadium in honor of former athletic director and coach General Robert Neyland. Neyland, the man credited with making the Vols a national football power, coached the team from 1926–1952, with two interruptions for military service. Shortly before his death, he spearheaded the stadium's first major expansion. The plans were so far ahead of their time that they have been used in every expansion since then. The playing surface is still named Shields–Watkins Field.

The latest addition to the facility is the bricking of the field while removing the previous hedges, also added are the all-new home locker room, press room, and varsity room. In 2006 the East Club Seats were added, bringing capacity down to 105,650. In 2009, the university will add west club-level seats bringing capacity down to 100,000.

On April 8, 2009, it was announced that Neyland Stadium was one of the 70 stadia named for the United States' bid to either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup[1]

[edit] Stadium growth

Growth by year
1919 Construction Addition Seats Added Total Seats
1921 Original West Stands 3200 seats 3200
1926 East Stands 3600 seats 6800
1929 West Stands 11,060 seats 17,860
1937 North Section X 1500 seats 19,360
1938 East Stands 12,030 seats 31,390
1948 South Stands 15,000 seats 46,390
1962 West Upper Deck press box, 5837 seats 52,227
1966 North Stands 5895 seats 58,122
1968 East Upper Deck 6307 seats 64,429
1972 Southwest Upper Deck 6221 seats 70,650
1976 Southeast Upper Deck 9600 seats 80,250
1980 North Stands net gain 10,999 seats 91,249
1987 West Executive Suites 42 suites 91,110
1990 Student Seating Adjustment 792 seats 91,902
1996 North Upper Deck 10,642 seats 102,544
1997 ADA Seating Adjustment 310 seats 102,854
2000 East Executive Suites 78 suites 102,932
2006 East Clubs Seats Club Level 102,037

[edit] Shields-Watkins Field

From 1921 to the end of the 1967 season the field surface was natural grass.

1964 saw the addition of the now famous checkerboard end zones done in orange and white. 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 had the team run onto the field through the 'T' formed by The Pride of the Southland Marching 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 (Astro-Turf) was installed as the playing surface. One of the reasons being that there was not adequate drainage during 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, or having the same design but with the endzones in orange turf with white turf lettering. The end zones, as well as the mid-field 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 endzones were brought back, along with an interlocking 'UT' at the 50-yard line.

1993 saw the final game on the artificial surface, a 62-14 win over Vanderbilt. Afterwards the surface was ripped up and sections were auctioned off to raise funds for the university.

Natural grass returned to Shields-Watkins field in 1994. The checkerboard end zones and mid-field logo were carried over. In 1997, the interlocking 'UT' was replaced with the same Power T logo as seen on the football helmets. The grass used was Tiftway Bermuda.

In 2007, the entire surface was resodded for the first time since the transition from artificial turf. The new surface is Patriot Bermuda, and rests on a bed of 12 inches of sand, which allows for adequate drainage.

[edit] Other facts

 Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (January 2009)
Neyland Stadium at night
  • The Sporting News ranked Neyland Stadium as the nation's #1 college football stadium in a poll in the spring of 2001.
  • Sports Illustrated ranked Neyland Stadium, the University of Tennessee campus, and surrounding Knoxville as the best college football weekend experience in 2004.
  • Tennessee set a school-record by averaging 107,595 fans in 2000.
  • A record total of 747,870 fans in seven games saw the Vols post an undefeated home season in 1999. [1]
  • The university has averaged 105,176 fans over the past nine seasons, drawing nearly four million patrons during that span.
  • The largest stadium attendance was on September 18, 2004 against the University of Florida with a record of 109,061 people. The game resulted in a 30-28 Volunteer win. [1]
  • Neyland Stadium is known for its unique endzone paint scheme, the orange and white checkerboard pattern, derived from the design of the bell tower on Ayers Hall at the top of The Hill.
  • The majority of the UT's anthropology department's facilities, as well as those of the audiology department, are located inside the Neyland Stadium building, within the South Stadium Hall and East Stadium Hall areas.
  • Neyland Stadium, along with Husky Stadium at the University of Washington (Lake Washington), Ohio Stadium (Ohio State)(Olentangy River), Rutgers Stadium (Rutgers University)(Raritan River), Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (United States Naval Academy)(Severn River), Michie Stadium (United States Military Academy at West Point)(Hudson River) and Camp Randall Stadium (University of Wisconsin)(Lake Mendota) are the only college football stadiums located on lake- or river fronts in the nation. Neyland and Husky Stadium are known for "sail-gating," the boat-based tailgating that happens before football games.
The stadium as seen from the campus of The University of Tennessee.
A view of the stadium and the Henley Street Bridge.

Because of tight seating conditions, the nick-name "One-Cheek Stadium" is often used by visitors.

  • The stadium has at different points in its history reflected two different design traditions in American college football seating -- that of the horseshoe-style stadium in its earlier years (see Harvard Stadium) and the bowl-style stadium since the closing of the lower bowl in the 1980s (see the Rose Bowl and the Yale Bowl).


[edit] Sources

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b UT Sports Official Site
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Football stadiums of the Southeastern Conference
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