Danny White: Tennessee is 'actively exploring' Neyland Stadium expansion

Tennessee athletic director Danny White announced another sellout at Neyland Stadium on Wednesday morning, with the regular-season finale against Vanderbilt now sold out and giving the Vols 27 straight capacity crowds at their home stadium.

But that wasn’t the only news.

White wrote in a post on social media that Tennessee is approaching 27,000 fans on its season-ticket waiting list, that the Vols are “actively exploring” expansion in Neyland’s north end zone and that he’s aware of and working on congestion problems around the stadium.

Danny White’s letter to Tennessee fans

Vol Nation,

With the Vanderbilt game now sold out, we are up to 27 consecutive sellouts in historic Neyland Stadium. This continues to showcase the incredible strength of the best fans in all of sports! 

Interest in the Vols continues to skyrocket with a current season ticket interest list of 26,972. We are actively exploring the viability of expanding the north end zone, which will allow us to welcome even more fans to Rocky Top. 

The congestion outside the west gates is still being addressed. We made adjustments throughout the year and have partnered with our campus partners to plan the removal of the Silverstein-Luper building, creating a much larger open space at the bottom of Peyton Manning Pass. We are also aware of the need to tackle the congestion issues in the upper south concourse and are working closely with engineers to find practical solutions.

Thank you for continuing to make the Neyland Effect & we will keep working to enhance the experience for everyone!

Neyland Stadium’s current capacity is 101,915

Neyland’s current capacity is 101,915, down from 102,455 before the addition of the social deck and video board that was added to the north end zone upper deck before the 2022 season. 

The stadium has had a capacity of over 100,000 since the north end zone upper deck was added after the 1995 season, with capacity going up to 104,544 for the 1996 season. The attendance record of 109,061 was set in 2004.

Last season Tennessee averaged a sold-out crowd of 101,915 fans over seven home games, going a perfect 7-0 in front of a total of 713,405 fans. Both totals ranked sixth nationally.

The Neyland Stadium sellout streak dates back to a 63-6 win over Akron on September 17, 2022. All seven home games of the 2023 season were sold out and the final six home games of the 2022 season were capacity crowds.