Ground was broken on October 20, 2006, for the stadium, that replaced the field shared with the City of Knoxville at Tyson Park. The new stadium featured a state-of-the-art press box, private boxes and VIP suites, a digital scoreboard with video playback capabilities, 1,581 seats, and three locker rooms. A 6,500-square-foot training facility was placed … Continued

In 1913 Professor Charles Ferris of the Engineering Department proposed the development of a new athletics field to replace Wait Field (located where the Walters Life Sciences Building now stands). He and others formed The University Realty Company, a stock company, to purchase a four-acre tract (part of Courtney Hill) that held 21 city lots … Continued

In 2008 a brick facade was installed along the inner bowl of Neyland Stadium. The facade is designed to complement the brick and iron facade of the exterior. General Shale Brick Company of Johnson City donated brick for the bowl and the exterior facade.

In 1922, in order to prevent people who had not paid to attend the game from viewing it, a high wire fence around Shields-Watkins Field—including the sand-covered drill and practice field—was built. With the construction of the fence, cars were no longer allowed to be parked on the field.

In 1922 the student newspaper, the Orange and White, brought to the attention of the student body that there was no flagpole on the UT football field. Within a week, $53.42 had been donated by students for the erection of a flagpole. The eighty-foot-high pole was installed October 28 on the north end of the … Continued

Line markers were first used in 1922. The markers showed the distance the ball must be carried from the center of the field to the goal. The markers, 10 feet apart, were iron, painted black, and on the black background the numerals painted white.

In spring 1935 the Athletics Council voted to install a sound amplifying system at Shields-Watkins Field. The system was a 150-watt station, and the loud speakers with the amplifying set were installed over the scoreboard on the north end of the field, facing both the east and west. Ross Haun was awarded the contract to … Continued

In fall 1923 donations received by the Athletics Department made possible the installation of a drinking fountain and the acquisition of equipment for sprinkling the field.

When Alice Watkins Shields, then the widow of William Simpson Shields, died on March 4, 1934, she left one-fourth of her estimated $600,000 estate to UT to establish an endowment to be known as the Shields-Watkins Endowment Fund, the income from which was to the used for the “Physical Education Department” and the upkeep of … Continued