Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium turned 100-years-old on Friday and the Longhorns home stadium has never looked better. With an original seating capacity of 27,000, DKR’s attendance record was set in Texas’ last home game against Georgia at 105,215.
In 1923, former UT athletics director L. Theo Bellmont and 30 student leaders presented the idea for a new concrete stadium to the board of regents to replace the wooden bleachers of Clark Field. Once built, the stadium was heralded as “the largest sports facility of its kind in the Southwest.” The student body dedicated the stadium in honor of the 198,520 Texans, 5,280 of whom died, who fought in World War I.
Now, DKR is a state of the art facility with a multitude of food options, luxury boxes, LED lights, first-class locker rooms and clubs. After most of its history as a horseshoe, the stadium is now fully enclosed as well.
The stadium feels more like a legit home-field advantage now. But statistically it always has been. UT’s home record 403–123–10 (.766). Since the year 2000, Texas is 112-33 at home. For the better part of two-plus decades, Texas has averaged a scoring margin of 17.8. During the first decade of the 2000s, that margin was a massive 28.7 points per game.
1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ years has never looked so good 🤘
happy birthday DKR-TMS! #HookEm pic.twitter.com/NIHFzQYs1i
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) November 8, 2024
Over the next 100 years, Texas Memorial Stadium was upgraded multiple times. Major upgrades include:
- 1926 – North end was closed turning the stadium into a ‘horseshoe’ at a cost of $125K.
- 1948 – Rows and sections were added to raise capacity to 60,136 at a cost of $1.4 million.
- 1955 – Eight 100-foot Light towers were added at a cost of $200,000. The first night game in Austin occurred on September 17, 1955.
- 1964 – Minor seating expansion added 780 seats, bringing capacity to 60,916.
- 1968 – Seating expansion added 5,481 seats, bringing capacity to 66,397.
- 1969 – ‘AstroTurf’, a tartan track and aluminum seats were installed.
- 1971 – Upper deck added to the west side adding 15,990 seats, raising seating capacity to 77,809.
- 1986 – The Neuhaus–Darrell K Royal Athletic Center completed at the south end of the stadium at a cost of $7 million. The center was later renamed the W. A. “Tex” Moncrief, Jr.–V. F. “Doc” Neuhaus Athletic Center in 1997 after Royal’s name was added to the stadium.
- 1989 – A new four-color animated scoreboard was installed at the north end.
- 1996 – Installed natural grass and a new Jumbotron for just over $4 million. The stadium renamed Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium to honor former head coach Darrell K Royal.
- 1997 – 14 suites were added to west side. Much of the concourse and lockrooms were remodeled and added too. The field was named for UT law school alumnus and benefactor Joe Jamail. DKR’s capacity was reduced by 2,297 seats, bringing capacity to 75,512.
- 1998 – The upper deck was added to the east side including 52 new stadium suites and a 13,000-square-foot private club. A total of 3,959 seats were added, bringing capacity to 79,471.
- 1999 – The track was removed and field was lowered seven feet, adding more seats to bring capacity to 80,082.
- 2005 – Centennial Room and eighth-floor press box were expanded at a cost of $15 million.
- 2006 – The 7,370-square-foot “Godzillatron” (which at the time was the largest HD Video screen in the world) was installed in the south end zone. 432 club seats were added to the west side and approximately 4,000 bleacher seats were added behind the south end zone expanding official seating capacity to 85,123.
- 2008 – An expansion project costing US$149.9 million gave the stadium a new memorial plaza and new multi-level north end zone structure. Overall, the stadium’s official seating capacity increased to 94,113.
- 2009 – A $27 million new Football Academic Center, a new Hall of Fame were added. DKR went back to artificial turn, as FieldTurf was put in. The 4,000 south end temporary bleachers were replaced with the addition of 4,525 permanent bleacher seats bringing capacity to 100,119.
- 2011 – Player locker room renovated.
- 2017 – Extensive upgrades were again made to the locker room, weight room and meeting rooms. New LED video board in South End zone, ribbon boards and new sound system were put in and the west-side facade was renovated.
- 2019–2021 – Final planned phase of the stadium’s expansion was completed adding permanent seating in the south end zone. For the first time, the playing field was completely enclosed. Club seating, luxury suites and new video board were also added. The project cost $175 million.
- 2020 – In response to calls for increased diversity, and at the suggestion of the Jamail family, the field was renamed to honor Heisman Trophy winners Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams. A statue of Julius Whittier, the school’s first Black football letterman, was also installed.
- 2021 – FieldTurf was replaced.
- 2023–2024 – The stadium’s lighting system is upgraded to an instant-start multi-color LED system.
