DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium Expansion

From Urban Austin

The $176 million first phase of "bowling-off" Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium (DKR-TMS) has begun. Roughly 8,000 new, permanent seats will be added by razing the north endzone stands and replacing them with a new lower deck (directly behind the field); Club level seats and luxury suites; and a new upper deck (which will be a continuation, or “wrap-around,” of the stadium’s east upper deck. Upon completion of this phase of the expansion, the stadium’s official seating capacity will increase to approximately 93,000 permanent seats and 4,000 south endzone bleacher seats (~97,000). Therefore, gameday attendances are forecast to rise to roughly 100,880.

With regards to total seating capacity, DKR-TMS will be among the Top 5 college football stadiums in the country. Only Michigan (107,501), Penn State (107,282), Tennessee (104,079), and Ohio State (101,586) will be ahead of Texas in 2008.

There is no current timeline as to when construction may begin on the next phase of the expansion; the bowling-off the south endzone. Once fully complete, DKR-TMS is projected have an official seating capacity of approximately 115,500 or more (pushing gameday attendances to over 120,000). This is according to the University's master plan, which was approved in the late 1990's.

In 2006, DKR-TMS had an official seating capacity of 85,123 (including 4,000 "temporary" bleacher seats in the south endzone). The University of Texas had 7 home games and averaged 88,505 spectators per home opening (ranking #1 in the Big 12 Conference and #10 in the nation in average attendance).

Top 10 Largest Crowds at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium:

1) 89,422 - Ohio State - 2006

2) 89,102 - Texas A&M - 2006

3) 89,036 - Oklahoma State - 2006

4) 88,972 - Iowa State - 2006

5) 88,966 - Baylor - 2006

6) 88,913 - Sam Houston State - 2006

7) 86,401 - Texas Tech - 2007

8) 85,968 - Nebraska - 2007

9) 85,123 - North Texas - 2006

10) 84,864 - Kansas State - 2007

[edit] Statistics

Status:	Under Construction
Floors:	N/A
Height:	N/A
Square footage:	N/A
Start:	December 8, 2006
Finish:	August 2007 (lower deck); August 2008 (suites & upper deck)
Developers:	University of Texas at Austin

[edit] Renderings

August 2008	August 2008	August 2008	August 2008
August 2008	August 2008	August 2008	August 2008
Proposed;Complete build-out	Proposed;Complete build-out	Proposed;Complete build-out