In 1989, when Neyland-Thompson was completed, it held a 70-yard All Pro football field with a 10-yard end zone. The field, beneath a 65-foot ceiling, also included a baseball infield with inlaid bases and a pitcher’s mound. The indoor practice field was named in honor of Chattanooga businessman Robert E. White, who donated $1 million to finance the field and support five full athletic scholarships on an annual basis. The surface was changed to the Prestige Synthetic Turf System in 2002.
The Tennessee Football Hall of Fame area in Neyland-Thompson was made possible by the William B. Stokely family through the William B. Stokely Jr. Foundation. An updated Football of Fame was later installed in the Anderson Training Center.
The Brenda Lawson Athletics Center addition to Neyland-Thompson allowed expansion of the field to a full 100 yards. In October 2010, while the football team rolled out of Knoxville for Athens, Georgia, to play the University of Georgia, general contractor Carolina Green Corporation was tearing out the old turf to make room for a new 120-yard AstroTurf Gameday Grass 3DH field, provided by Dalton (Georgia) based AstroTurf LLC. The new field was complete with a six-foot white border, checkerboard end zones, and a Power T at midfield—just like at Neyland Stadium. Replacing the field, which had seams and had developed holes from wear, cost approximately $400,000.