Jimmy’s Blog: Two projects will reduce Neyland Stadium capacity next year

Jimmy’s Blog: Two projects will reduce Neyland Stadium capacity next year

By Jimmy Hyams

Tennessee still lists Neyland Stadium’s capacity at 102,455, but there is a good chance it could dip into five figures for next season.

Tennessee is going to eliminate an untold amount of seats when it installs a party deck in the North end zone and club seats in the lower West end.

Tennessee athletic director Danny White said during a Tuesday appearance on SportsTalk, WNML radio, that those two projects will reduce stadium capacity.

One of the things I keep saying in our meetings,’’ White said,I don’t want to be the person that determines how important being over or under 100,000 is. That’s going to be a topic of conversation as we engage in survey work and focus groups with football season-ticket holders.

“I’d like to know what our fans think about that. I need more analysis of what attendance looked like when we were good. We certainly don’t want to reduce too much and wish we had more seats when we get good again because we have every intention of doing that and competing for SEC and national championships.

“But there’s kind of a give and take there for the types of amenities we know fans want. The North end zone party deck and lower West club, there is seat reduction there. How much … is something we’ll be working on in coming months.’’

White said the two projects will start after the season concludes, but he isn’t sure how much capacity will be reduced.

“For this year, it’s 102,455,’’ White said.

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