Razorback Stadium – stadium description

Since 1901 the University of Arkansas only had a modest football field located on “En la colina” (some 200 meters east of current stadium) with roughly 300 capacity. Only in 1938 construction began on the new ground, which was able to hold 13 500 people at the time of opening. Compared to the former ground it was a giant leap, but nowadays that size seems very humble.

After a long series of expansions by early 1980s the ground already had 50 000 capacity. All that with just two permanent grandstands on each side of the field. Both ends were left empty or nearly empty. A pavilion with sports facilities was built in the north and temporary stands set up in the south.

Things changed massively around the end of the millennium, when construction of the new south stand began. While part of the funding went towards upgrades of existing structures, the new south end consumed over 200 times the amount it took to deliver the stadium back in 1938.

The expansion’s outcome is interesting for one particular reason. Two tiers of seating are topped by skyboxes which in turn are topped with a very modest seating balcony. That modest seating balcony may be temporarily expanded by as many as 8,000 additional seats if demand is sufficient. Thanks to these temporary seats, attendance record of nearly 80,000 was set up by 2010.