FAYETTEVILLE - Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium (76,212)

The Razorback Stadium was originally built in 1938 with a capacity for 13,500. The first expansion project added 2,500 seats to the north end of each side. In 1950, a new press box and 5,200 seats on the west side were added. A 5,200 east complement was added in 1957. Not sure about the expansion projects between the late 50s and the mid 80s, when capacity expanded to 42,678. Also not sure about when it was expanded to 51,000 capacity.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/photosbylisa90/5075792274/

danny1010 said:

I agree. They almost look transparent. I don't remember seeing those in years before. I wonder if they're some sort of temporary bleachers used for extra capacity games.

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Yes, they are. Or were. They have been removed now. In their place are tents that serve as places for students to hang out during the game, sort of a student suite.

The capacity was 42,000 while I was a student there (1978-82), expanded to 52,680 in 1985 with the addition of the west upper deck. Bleachers located in the south end zone were removed in 1995, reducing capacity to 50,000. The east upper deck and south end zone structure were started in 1999 and finished in September 2001, which was the last expansion before the current proposal.

A stadium expansion/renovation project is likely to begin after the 2016 season, but the final design has not been announced. It will be suites, club seats and loge boxes, but apparently no general seating. Existing concourses, changing rooms and the administration building at the north end will also be redone as part of this project, and a second video board added at the south end where those temporary seats were located previously.

^^ Was it one of these, by any chance?

FAYETTEVILLE - Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium (72,000 -> ~78,000)

University of Arkansas

National Champions 1964, 1977 by one ranking

Member SEC West Division (toughest in college football)

Stadium was expanded in 2001 to 72,000 seats in a horseshoe shape, with the open end to the north where the Broyles Center (built 1974) occupied that end. In 2011, the university developed a master plan for athletic facilities that included enclosing the north end of DWRRS and completely reworking the Broyles Center. This year, the UA Board of Trustees approved proceeding with a final design and cost estimate for the expansion, which will need approval from the board before construction begins, and also approved fund raising for the project. The university expects to raise $40 million or so in direct gifts, with the remainder to be raised through a bond issue paid for by increased ticket revenue. No tax money involved at all.

Because the design has not been finalized, there is no concrete target for final capacity. The tentative proposal given to the Trustees was for approximately 3,000 seats, all to be premium seating (suites, loge boxes and club seating), plus an area for standing room of undetermined capacity. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is an Arkansas graduate, and the design idea shown below borrows from the premium seating at field level used in Jerry's AT&T Stadium. I do expect that feature to remain in the final design.

Other aspects of the stadium project include a renovation of existing concourses, suites and club seating; addition of elevators at the northeast and northwest corners to help fans reach upper level seating; development of a north end concourse that allows fans to go from west to east sides without going to the south end; addition of a second large video board at the south end; and renovation of game-day team facilities including a dressing room currently located in the Broyles Center, which will also be renovated.

Current configuration:



Possible plan for expansion from the 2011 facilities master plan:



Image presented to Trustees earlier this year, view from north end looking south:

KingmanIII said:

^^ Was it one of these, by any chance?

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That would be them. Will update when they get final design completed.

slipperydog said:

I wonder if they'll construct the new Broyles Center so it can be withstand an additional future expansion in the north end.

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I rather doubt it. This expansion will be done below/in front of the main BC (the current area which formerly had the garage doors is also part of the BC but will be removed, and the gameday dressing room in that area will be reworked under the new stands). If there is a need for additional general seating, it would be fairly easy to put an upper deck on the south end (see photo below) and add 5000-8000 seats. Right now there's really not the demand for that many seats. GunnerJacket, yep, more party suites in the end zones. That's the only reason this is happening. If people really want to write huge checks to sit in party suites, you might as well let them.

When the Broyles Center was first built, there was an indoor practice area behind the garage doors which connected to the game field through those doors. It was billed as the longest continuous stretch of artificial turf in the world (don't recall the exact measurement, but probably about 190 yards). With the construction of a full-sized indoor practice facility south of the stadium (visible behind the SEZ in the photo below), that was no longer needed.

New drawings released



A little different than the drawings above; more seats added and more levels. One of the quirks of DWRRS is that there is a hill to the northeast of the stadium that has allowed you to look into the stadium. They wanted to preserve that quirk, so this design leaves a gap in the northeast corner. You can't watch the game from up there (and never could), but you can see into the stadium, and will with this expansion as well. As seen here:



Added capacity is now about 4,800, plus some standing room is included on top as well as in the northeast corner. So the listed capacity would be about 76,800 plus the terrace. Here's a look from the standing room area:



This addresses one of the concerns of Arkansas fans. They felt that the three-sided design of DWRRS has allowed crowd noise to escape out the north end and thus it was not as noisy and intimidating as it could have been. Going up a few more yards vertically will help correct that. Noise can still escape to the northeast, but more of it will be held in by the new structure.

This plan has not been approved by the university trustees yet. There is one trustee who is convinced that spending this kind of money on a stadium at this time is a bad idea (even though the money would not come from the university itself or from taxpayers), and I don't think anything is going to change his mind. But there is no evidence that any of the other trustees agree with him.