Photos by Michael Davis, Stadium Journey
Stadium Info FANFARE Score: 4.00
Neyland Stadium Phillip Fulmer Way Knoxville, TN 37996
Year Opened: 1921 Capacity: 101,915
Saturdays on Rocky Top
There are only three college football stadiums in the country accessible by water – the largest and most recognized is situated on the shore of the Tennessee River in Knoxville, Tennessee. Neyland Stadium has been home to the Tennessee Volunteers since 1921; with a current seating capacity of 101,915, this stadium is the 6th-largest in the country and 3rd in the Southeastern Conference. Neyland Stadium has been home to six National Champions, with the Vols having a 77.5% overall home winning percentage.
Neyland Stadium is named in honor of Robert Neyland, a Volunteers coach from 1926-1952. Neyland arrived in Knoxville as an Army captain in the university’s ROTC department, and started as a part-time football coach. He ended his career at Tennessee as a legendary head coach and full Brigadier General. There is a statue of him located just inside the main gate of the facility.
The stadium has undergone 17 renovations, the most recent before the 2022 season including new lower-west club and upper-north social deck spaces, bringing Neyland to its current seating capacity. Other upgrades included the restoration of the historic V-O-L-S letters along the top of the facility’s south end (2022), a second videoboard on the upper-north deck (2022), and bronze statues honoring four of Tennessee’s Black football trailblazers (2021). Other changes also eventually enclosed what once was a horseshoe-shaped stadium, elevated the bleachers, and added premium seating opportunities in the venue’s 120 suites.
Food & Beverage 3
The concessions inside Neyland Stadium are basic sports venue food. However, this is all you really need when it comes to watching football with over 100,000 fans. There are basics such as hot dogs (Hebrew National), hamburgers, pretzels, popcorn, Papa John’s pizza, and Coca-Cola brand products throughout the stadium. Calhoun’s BBQ Shack also offers its basic menu, but adds the local flavor of pulled pork sandwiches and pulled pork nachos.
Neyland Stadium started alcohol sales in 2019, which has been an ongoing debate over the last 5 years. The current beer list consists of Budweiser and Coors products, Dos Equis, Michelob Light, Miller Lite, Yuengling, and Sweetwater Hazy IPA. The concession prices here are in line with other SEC stadiums.
Atmosphere 5
There aren’t many college football stadiums that carry a game day atmosphere like Neyland, illustrated by the constant sell outs, the traditions of Tennessee football, and the 100K fans in orange that migrate to Neyland no matter the opponent.
Neyland Stadium is one of the few stadiums that can be accessed by water. The Tennessee River offers a unique opportunity for pre-game gatherings – the “Vol Navy” consists of more than 200 boats that dock on the Tennessee River along Volunteer landing during pre-game, a practice commonly referred to as sailgating (the University of Tennessee, along with the University of Washington and Baylor University, are the three college football stadiums where sailgating is a pre-game ritual).
The atmosphere on game day starts long before the gates open at Neyland Stadium – fans can start their day by visiting Volunteer Village, which is free to all fans regardless of whether they have a game ticket. Volunteer Village offers live music, food trucks, and other activities.
The Volunteer Village Fan Fest opens 3 1/2 hours before kickoff, but make sure you don’t miss the other pre-game activities, such as the Vol Walk, and the football team walk over to Neyland Stadium, which occurs two hours and fifteen minutes before kickoff. The Pride of the Southland Band also marches down Volunteer Boulevard 90 minutes before kickoff. Once all these activities are completed, walking into Neyland Stadium would be next on the agenda.
When walking into Neyland Stadium, you can feel the energy and magic with the orange and white checkerboard design in both end zones. The retired numbers of past greats are easy to see on the ribbon scoreboard and the bright 4 letters on each side of the south end zone scoreboard that simply say V-O-L-S.
All of college football has exciting team entries, but Tennessee has one of the most iconic – the team enters through a T-formation created by the Pride of the Southland Band, while 100K fans sing “Rocky Top,” a song that any visitor fan will be singing on the way home.
The Southeastern Conference generally has great football game day atmospheres, but it is hard to compete with a game in Knoxville.
Neighborhood 4
Neyland Stadium is on The University of Tennessee’s campus, nestled between the downtown area of Knoxville and the Tennessee River. The location provides easy walking distance access to most of Knoxville’s attractions, dining, and lodging. World’s Fair Park, the former site of the 1982 World’s Fair is where you can visit Sunsphere Tower; the observation deck there is an interesting way to spend some time. There is also the Knoxville Museum of Art and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, both within walking distance of Neyland Stadium.
A popular spot for dining is Calhoun’s on the River, located just up Neyland Drive by the Gay Street Bridge – this popular Tennessee BBQ spot fills up quickly on game day. For upscale dining, there is also Ruth’s Chris Steak House, a little past Calhoun’s towards downtown. Speaking of downtown, you can also find Downtown Grill and Brewery close by, for a variety chose of food and a full list of local craft beers.
In addition, there are numerous options for lodging, being in a downtown area, depending on availability. There is the Hyatt Place Knoxville/Downtown, Hilton Knoxville, or the Hampton Inn & Suites Knoxville, all close enough to Neyland Stadium that you can walk to the venue. However, finding vacancies could be a problem as they are all booked well in advance.
Fans 5
Tennessee has sold out 75,000 of their season tickets allotment with 15,000 on the waiting list. The average attendance in 2023 was over 101,000, which fills Neyland Stadium. Volunteer fans not only show up to Neyland Stadium but they are also heard – the fans are loud throughout the game.
Neyland Stadium is a sea of orange with attire that can only represent the University of Tennessee, and the constant playing of “Rocky Top” by the Pride of the Southland Band only seems to make the decibel level go higher. Tennessee fans are fun, and energetic, and show Southern hospitality throughout the game, yet their presence is a large part of the high winning percentage in Knoxville, giving visiting opponents an environment that is not in their favor.
Access 3
The population of Knoxville is around 190,000, so with more than 100,000 fans descending on Knoxville on game day, things can be very crowded as far as access. The closest airport is Knoxville Airport about 10 miles away, but prices during football weekend can be high and seats limited. Nashville is a 2 1/2-hour drive away but could be an easier place to fly into for fans traveling by air. As with most major college football stadiums, the parking lots immediately surrounding the stadium are reserved for major donors and season ticket holders; the best parking option is to use the downtown parking areas.
On game day the city of Knoxville and the area Transit Authority provide off-site parking with shuttle service to the stadium. Taxis, Uber, and shared riding is also available. The best way to figure out how to get to Neyland stadium when coming to Knoxville is to go to the Tennessee game day parking website, as things can change from season to season.
The best advice is to get to the stadium early, so you can avoid the large crowd that is around Neyland Stadium. Once inside the facility, however, things aren’t exactly easy to migrate around, due to the crowd size. The earlier you can get inside the stadium, the easier time you will have to find your seat and other items. UT operates with a clear bag policy, and stadium security regulations limit fans to one clear plastic bag no larger than 12 inches by 6 inches by 12 inches, or a one-gallon, clear, resealable plastic storage bag per person.
Return on Investment 4
The ticket prices at Neyland Stadium are similar to other large college football schools. Ticket prices are separated into non-conference and conference games; non-conference games can range between $40 and $75, while the prices increase for SEC games, running between $75 and $120 per ticket, and the bigger the visiting team the higher the price. The Georgia and Alabama games are high-demand games with prices being in a high-level tier on the secondary market, coming in at the expected premium prices.
The cost of parking is decent, ranging between $15 and $40 depending on the location. Lodging will be your biggest expense, as hotels in Knoxville are all booked and very expensive on game weekends. One suggestion is to search for one of the many hotels in the Gatlinburg area, which will be much cheaper and are not located too far from Knoxville. Overall, the cost of seeing a Tennessee football game in Knoxville is worth the price, however.
Extras 4
The experience of seeing 100,000 people as an ocean of orange singing Rocky Top in unison is something very few stadiums can match. The City of Knoxville and the Tennessee River provide a unique location for Neyland Stadium, and the venue is also home to twenty-four former players enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame, with the numbers of Johnny Majors (# 45), Reggie White (# 92), Peyton Manning (# 16), and Doug Atkins (# 91) retired on Neyland Stadium’s ribbon board.
Final Thoughts
Neyland Stadium has everything that any college football fan loves – the atmosphere, the large fan base, and the traditions. The facility is known as one of the most easily recognized college stadiums, due to its orange checkerboard end zones. There are very few college stadiums that can match Neyland Stadium – this is a stadium that I strongly believe should be on any sports fan list to visit in their sports journey.