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Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium (formerly just War Memorial Stadium, Memorial Stadium, and Texas Memorial Stadium), located in Austin, Texas, has been home to the University of Texas Longhorn football team since 1924. The stadium has delivered a great home field advantage with the team's home record through the 2009 season being 342-91-10 (77.8%).[1] The current official stadium seating capacity of 100,119[2] makes the stadium the largest football venue by seating capacity in the state of Texas, the largest in the Big 12 Conference, the fourth largest non-racing stadium in the NCAA and the United States, and the seventh largest non-racing stadium in the world. While DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium has the largest seating capacity in the state of Texas, the NFL Dallas Cowboys' new stadium, Cowboys Stadium, has an overall capacity of 111,000 due to a seating capacity of 80,000 plus party plazas capable of accommodating up to 31,000 standing spectators. The DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium attendance record of 101,357 spectators was set on November 21, 2009, when Texas beat Kansas 51-20.[3] Since the beginning of the 2009 season (6 total home games), Texas has not had a home game with less than 100,000 in attendance. The stadium has been expanded several times since its original opening. The University's most recent project, a $27 million expansion and renovation project to the south end zone facilities, was completed in August 2009. For the 2009 season, 4,525 permanent bleacher seats were constructed, which allowed the stadium to become the first football stadium in Texas capable of seating in excess of 100,000 persons[4] and brought the stadium to its current seating capacity.
[edit] Memorial dedicationIn 1923, former UT athletics director L. Theo Bellmont (the west side of the stadium is named in his honor), along with thirty student leaders, presented the idea of building a concrete stadium to replace the wooden bleachers of Clark Field to the Board of Regents. Heralded as "the largest sports facility of its kind in the Southwest" upon its completion in 1924, the first unit of the stadium consisted of the east and west stands with a seating capacity of 27,000. It was designed as a dual-purpose facility with a 440-yard (400 m) track surrounding the football field. The stadium was financed through donations from both students and alumni. The estimated cost of the structure was $275,000. The student body dedicated the stadium in honor of the 198,520 Texans — 5,280 of whom lost their lives — who fought in World War I. A statue, representing the figure of democracy, was later placed atop the north end zone seats of the stadium. In World War II, the University lost many former players, including former coach Jack Chevigny. The Athletics Council rededicated the newly enlarged stadium on September 18, 1948 prior to the Texas-LSU game, honoring the men and women who had died in the war. On November 12, 1977, a small granite monument was unveiled and placed at the base of the statue, during the TCU-Texas game. The ceremony rededicated Texas Memorial Stadium to the memory of all alumni in all American wars. The University of Texas honored legendary football coach Darrell K Royal, who led Texas to three national championships and eleven Southwest Conference titles, by officially naming the stadium after him in 1996. Additionally, the University established the Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium Veterans Committee, composed of alumni who served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam or the Gulf Wars. The committee is charged to forever dedicate the stadium in the memory of, and in honor of, UT students and alumni who gave their lives for their country. Each year, one home football game is designated as Veterans Recognition Day, commemorating the "memorial" aspect of the stadium and to honor the memory of war soldiers.  Smokey the Cannon (lower left) is in the eastern section of the north end zone. The 2007 expansion brought the seats closer to the field so the cannon was relocated to the southeastern corner of the stadium. [edit] Major upgrades
[edit] 2005–08 improvements  US$15 million were allocated by the Board of Regents for stadium renovations in 2006. [edit] West side renovations (2005-2006)Beginning November 14, 2005, work began in Bellmont Hall — located in the west side of the stadium — to meet newer safety codes set by the Austin Fire Department. The upper deck structure received new water sealing, and the Centennial Room and eighth-floor press box were expanded. [edit] Audio/visual improvements (2006)Following the 2005 season, the Freddie Steinmark memorial scoreboard and Jumbotron in the south end zone was dismantled. This was done in preparation for US$8 million of audio/visual improvements, the centerpiece of which was a 7,370-square-foot (685 m2) high-definition Daktronics LED scoreboard, nicknamed "Godzillatron," located in the south end zone. The screen has a pixel resolution of 848 x 2064. The new scoreboard required the removal of the six large flag poles that previously displayed the Six Flags Over Texas. These have been replaced by smaller flags located atop the screen. Along with the new video screen, the sound system was updated and smaller video boards were installed on the east and west sides of the stadium. At the time of its creation, Godzillatron was called the largest high-definition video screen in the world,[6][7] though it was quickly surpassed by a larger screens in Tokyo,[8][9] Kauffman Stadium[10][11] and Cowboys Stadium.[12] It is still the largest high-definition video screen in collegiate sports.[13] On creation, the screen was the largest HD screen in the western hemisphere if measured by square footage (7,370 sq ft), but has since been passed by the new Cowboys Stadium HD screen (11,520 sq ft). One downside for fans is that the screen can be used to allow more obtrusive advertising to be displayed during games.[14] It has been controversial among fans because the screen includes a border of advertisements at most times.[15][16] This has led to some fans calling the new screen "Adzillatron".[17] Complaints have also been made about the scoreboard being too loud and about it broadcasting advertisements to those in the stadium, even over the top of the band playing in the stadium.[16][17] In its first usage, the portion of the new screen that was typically used for showing replays and film highlights was approximately the same size as the old video screen.[15][18] More recent games have featured a 16:9 format image centered in a ring of advertisement. Nevertheless, complaints continue about the advertising, with some fans shouting out "We won't shop/eat/bank there" when advertisements are played loudly in the stadium.[19] Also following the 2005 season, the outdated video matrix screen in the north end zone was removed in anticipation of the upcoming renovations. [edit] New south end zone seating and renovations (2006-2009)A temporary bleacher section of approximately 4,000 seats was added behind the south end zone for the 2006 season. In mid-July 2006, UT announced that it had completely sold out Memorial Stadium for the 2006 season. This announcement meant that for the first time in the history of the university, tickets would not be sold on an individual game basis. The bleachers allowed a new official seating capacity of 85,123. A then DKR-TM Stadium, state of Texas, and Big 12 Conference attendance record of 89,422 was set at the September 9th game vs Ohio State University. These records stood until the first Longhorn game of the 2008 season. The south end bleacher seating was expanded for the 2007 season to seat approximately 6,400 fans,[20] but the seating was reduced back to 4,000 for the 2008 season since the north end zone expansion was complete. The south end zone also became the new seating location of the Longhorn Band beginning in 2008. It was later announced for the upcoming 2009 season that a construction project was due for completion in August 2009 in the south end zone of the stadium. Work began in late April/early May 2009 with the building of a new Football Academic Center, a new Hall of Fame, and the addition of 4,525 permanent bleacher seats that would replace the 4,000 temporary bleacher seats.[4] It was also announced that this upgrade would raise the home attendance to more than 100,000[4]. Funding for this project cost approximately $27 million dollars and also included money to change from natural to artificial grass.[21] In May 2009, the university began the process of replacing the stadium's natural grass playing surface with FieldTurf and finished in June 2009.  from the 2007 game against Nebraska on October 28th; Texas won 28-25. [edit] North end zone expansion (2007-2008)  In 2006, regents approved a US$149.9 million expansion plan (later increased to $179 million[20]; includes the $15 million 2006 renovations) to include a new memorial plaza and new north end zone structure that was scheduled for completion in August 2008. The new outdoor plaza at the northwest corner is a memorial to veterans, with (the original 1924) bronze tablet honoring Texas World War I deaths, a monument, landscaping, and new stadium entry gates between two 115-foot (35 m) towers, like those in the east grandstand. The expansion also consisted of replacing the north end zone structure with a multi-level complex that includes additional seats with an upper deck, club space, suites, athletic offices, academic-advising areas and a basement with gym space. Demolition of the old north end zone began on December 8, 2006.[22] This was necessary to move the north end seating closer to the field. Extremely unpredictable weather patterns, which included historic amounts of rainfall for much of the year and sleet and snow in January and April, delayed construction several times. However, construction crews worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and much of the new lower deck was ready in time for the first game of the 2007 season.[20] An upper deck was added to the north end zone in time for the 2008 season and increased the stadium's official seating capacity from 85,123 to 94,113.[23] A then DKR-TM Stadium, state of Texas, and Big 12 Conference attendance record was set on November 27, 2008 when 98,621 saw #4-ranked Texas defeat unranked rival Texas A&M 49–9. The north end zone expansion completed in 2008 combined with the south end zone expansion completed in 2009 have brought the official seating capacity to 100,119 and allowed an attendance record of 101,357. [edit] Future south end zone expansionThe final planned phase of the stadium's expansion includes the construction of permanent seating and an upper deck in the south end zone, completely enclosing the playing field. The stadium's seating capacity is expected to be in excess of 115,500 once the south end zone is fully enclosed, which would mean DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium would surpass Penn State's Beaver Stadium, the largest football stadium in North America.[24] However, the date of the final construction phase to fully enclose the south end zone has not been set nor have any funds been raised. [edit] See also
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