The development of land following the Yale Avenue Urban Renewal Project provided for intramural fields adjacent to the student aquatic center, which were developed in 1967. Fulton Bottoms, a playing field adjacent to the agriculture campus, was acquired from the State when the Tennessee drivers’ training facility moved. The area next to the aquatic center provides two fields, encompassing approximately 2.5 acres.
In 1994 at the urging of SGA president Matthew Gregory, a task force was formed to examine and recommend solutions to the problems of too few fields and poor quality of fields because of constant use. In 1997 the intramural fields adjacent to the aquatic center were converted from natural grass and mud to an artificial turf surface.
The problem of lack of space for fields was addressed in the 2001 update to the 1994 UT Master Plan, which placed fields along the edge of the Cherokee Farm at the river’s edge. Substantial criticism of that plan, due to noise and light concerns, was received from residents on the north side of the river. In 2007 the SGA, citing the fact that UT was “dead last” among SEC schools in provision of fields for intramural and recreational use, passed a bill endorsing the construction of fields on the Cherokee Farm. The development of the Cherokee Farm, however, was moved from control of the campus to control of the UT system by President John Petersen in 2007, and the use of the land was designated for a research park housing UT and private research facilities.
With access to land at Cherokee Farm no longer available, more than 25 sites were considered for possible location of the fields, but no nearby land was available that could support a sufficient number of fields.
When the decision was made in 2009 to close the Sutherland Apartments and Golf Range Apartments on Sutherland Avenue because of declining demand for graduate and married student housing and a projected prohibitive cost for renovation of the two complexes, the possibility of turning the land into intramural and recreational fields was proposed. The proximity of the site to the Third Creek Greenway, UT’s ownership of the land, availability of utilities, and proximity to campus resulted in the decision to locate the outdoor recreational and intramural field complex there.
Citing the many-year “dead last” ranking among peer institutions in availability of outdoor space for recreation, Chancellor Cheek and other university officials, joined by the SGA presidents of the last dozen years, officially broke ground on the 38-acre RecSports Complex on September 11, 2011. The complex was opened August 30, 2013. When completed, the complex included four natural grass multipurpose fields, four Astroturf fields, two softball fields, and three sand volleyball courts. A small building with an office, bathrooms, rental equipment, and training and first aid rooms was also located on the site. Other features included wireless Internet, a pavilion with picnic tables, grassy tiers for lawn chairs and spectators, wireless scoreboards, a well and irrigation pond to water the fields, an extension of the Third Creek Greenway to the front of the complex, and onsite parking. A lightning prediction system was installed that monitored the electricity in the air and sounded an alarm in the event of a 90 percent chance of a lightning strike. Efficient field lights, called Light-Structure Green were installed, which included multiple reflectors to redirect any escaping light back to the fields.
Funding for the $15.4 million project was from the Student Programs and Services Fee. The architect was Barge Waggoner Sumner and Cannon. The contractor was Southern Constructors Inc.