NEWS RELEASE

As Tennessee Athletics continues to aggressively pursue its mission of main the best way in faculty sports activities, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics Danny White has initiated the exploration of a public-private partnership aimed on the improvement of a first-in-class leisure district spanning the Tennessee River waterfront close to historic Neyland Stadium.

Anchored by a deliberate lodge adjoining to the stadium’s south finish, the mixed-use Neyland Entertainment District might uniquely improve the Tennessee soccer gameday expertise whereas additionally reworking the campus riverfront and supplementing Knoxville’s array of gathering facilities with one more enticing leisure and leisure hub.

The college’s preliminary idea for the mission — which might enhance the aesthetics of Neyland Stadium’s exterior façade and strengthen campus’s reference to the Tennessee River—features a boutique, full-service lodge with for-sale condominiums and convention/occasion area. The imaginative and prescient additionally options the potential improvement of a “tabletop” above the prevailing G10 parking storage to help extra tailgating, eating places, retail and family-friendly leisure actions.

A proper Request for Information (RFI) has been issued to gauge enter and curiosity from builders.

“Innovation is at the forefront of everything we do,” White mentioned. “The ideation of this new Neyland Entertainment District exemplifies that mindset. This is a large mission that has the potential to positively affect our total metropolis. We’re desperate to see what world-class builders dream as much as creatively maximize this extraordinary market alternative. We have the capability for setting up an leisure ecosystem that doesn’t presently exist wherever throughout the collegiate panorama.

“This is far greater than an activation on seven or eight days a year. This is a year-round destination that not only enhances our gamedays but also elevates the everyday academic experience of our entire student body and campus community year-round.”

The college has engaged program administration agency Brailsford & Dunlavey as a guiding accomplice within the Neyland Entertainment District exploratory part.

“Neyland Stadium has always been known for having one of the best gameday environments in college football,” Chancellor Donde Plowman mentioned. “We love to welcome Vol Nation to campus on Saturdays in the fall. This project has the potential to create a year-round destination that engages the Tennessee River waterfront and enhances the campus and our community.”

Since 1993, Brailsford & Dunlavey has empowered a whole bunch of schools and universities, municipalities {and professional} sports activities organizations to attain their daring visions by means of the constructed setting. The agency’s advisory experience contains analytical and technical actions, starting from market evaluation and monetary modeling to improvement construction analysis and building oversight.

“This public-private partnership opportunity will enhance the look and atmosphere of Neyland Stadium and the Knoxville campus while creating an additional destination for the city of Knoxville, all without state funding,” University of Tennessee President Randy Boyd mentioned.

The centerpiece of this grand imaginative and prescient, Neyland Stadium, stands as probably the most iconic venues in world sport. It is the eighth-largest stadium on the planet—sixth amongst venues in its class—boasting a capability of 101,915. Neyland Stadium is surrounded by key elements to unlocking a first-in-class mixed-use leisure district:

• UT has skilled a 17-percent development in enrollment during the last 5 years.

• The college has an alumni base exceeding 260,000.

• The University of Tennessee’s annual affect on the state financial system is $1.7 billion.

• Greater Knoxville is located on the crossroads of three main interstates, I-75, I-40 and I-81, within the heart of Tennessee’s east grand division. The metropolis is situated inside sooner or later’s drive of half the nation’s inhabitants.

• Knoxville is inside an eight-hour drive of Asheville, Atlanta, Charleston (S.C.), Charlotte, Chattanooga, Cincinnati, Louisville (Ky.), Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis and Washington DC.

• Knoxville was one of many nation’s high 5 reserving markets within the first half of 2022, alongside Atlanta, Nashville, Washington DC and New York City.

• Knoxville options a number of distinctive micro-market gathering facilities, together with The Strip, The Old City, Market Square, Bearden, Turkey Creek and others.

• Tennessee Athletics is a globally acknowledged and revered model that includes probably the most tradition-rich, championship-laden histories in faculty sports activities.

• UT’s ticketed sports activities constantly rating among the many nationwide leaders in common dwelling attendance.