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Tennessee football: Check out photos of the completed Neyland Stadium renovations

ByCaleb Calhoun|
A worker works on the S of the newly re-installed V-O-L-S letters on the south side of Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. on Wednesday, July 6, 2022. The letters were taken down in 1999. The re-installation of the letters are part of Phase I renovations to the stadium which include two new videoboards on the north and south ends of the stadium, a lower-west premium club, enhanced chairback seating in multiple lower-west sections and a party deck on the upper north end.RANK2 Kns Vols Letters
A worker works on the S of the newly re-installed V-O-L-S letters on the south side of Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. on Wednesday, July 6, 2022. The letters were taken down in 1999. The re-installation of the letters are part of Phase I renovations to the stadium which include two new videoboards on the north and south ends of the stadium, a lower-west premium club, enhanced chairback seating in multiple lower-west sections and a party deck on the upper north end.RANK2 Kns Vols Letters

Two days before kickoff, Tennessee football has finally revealed the renovations that were done to Neyland Stadium. A project that began right after the home finale last year against the Vanderbilt Commodores and lasted through the summer has finally come to an end.

That project most notably included a huge jumbotron added to the north end end zone, more luxury seating and the restoration of the V-O-L-S logos, only this time on both sides of the jumbotron in the south end zone. True to Danny White, it was a combination of restoring tradition and new flare.

Images and video of the updates to Tennessee football’s home are now widely available. Take a look at all the changes to the stadium here. This is a look at tweets and videos provided by reporters of all the different updates to Shields-Watkins Field.

The updates did reduce the seating capacity of Neyland Stadium by about 500, bringing it down to 101,915, and that drops Tennessee football to sixth nationally in stadium size rankings, now behind the LSU Tigers’ Tiger Stadium. That’s one drawback from this.

However, the difference is a few thousand seats, and honestly, stadium size isn’t the recruiting advantage it was back in the 1990s when the Vols and Michigan Wolverines were the only teams that could fit over 100,000 fans into their home field. As a result, luxury matters more.

One more drawback, though, is that the original V-O-L-S letters before the first jumbotron of 1999 couldn’t be restored. Many superstitious fans believe that removing them after 1998 is the reason Rocky Top hasn’t won a national championship since then.

More amenities and a new lounge are also part of the stadium now, so Tennessee football has certainly made the overall look nicer. It’s just in time to be on display Thursday night when they take on the Ball State Cardinals.

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