For over a century Neyland Stadium has served as the home field of the Tennessee Volunteers football team. That will remain the case indefinitely to come but some big changes could be coming soon.
According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville is “in the early stages” of planning a massive entertainment district on their campus that would connect to both Neyland Stadium and the Thompson-Boling Arena.
“Sources: Tennessee is in the early stages of exploring building an entertainment district on campus that connects Neyland Stadium and Thompson-Boling Arena. Think an LA Live type set up for college, which is believed to the first on a college campus,” Thamel wrote. “There’s an upcoming Request For Information that will lay out the early ambitions and detail the scope of the project.”
Such an ambitious project would probably take a long time to complete. But it could be something very special if all of the right effort is put into it.
Sources: Tennessee is in the early stages of exploring building an entertainment district on campus that connects Neyland Stadium and Thompson-Boling Arena. Think an LA Live type set up for college, which is believed to the first on a college campus.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) May 17, 2023
Neyland Stadium was known as Shields-Watkins Field from its opening in 1921 until 1962, when it was renamed to honor Tennessee coaching legend Robert Neyland.
The stadium has been expanded a dozen times in the century since and now seats over 101,000 fans for games. In 2004, a record 109,000 fans attended to see the Vols take on Florida State.
A change like this could turn Neyland Stadium from a top stadium in college football to the biggest sporting venue in the world.