The newly renovated Kyle Field at Texas A&M.
Texas A&M football fans got their first home-game experience in the university’s substantially rebuilt Kyle Field on Sept. 12 when the Aggies played Ball State. The game came after a major two-season overhaul of Texas A&M’s football stadium.
Populous designed the extensive Kyle Field renovation and Manhattan-Vaughn Construction served as the construction partner for the project.
Previously an open-ended horseshoe layout seating about 82,500, the stadium now has seating for approximately 102,500 after the addition of stands that created a fully enclosed bowl configuration. The new design also includes canopies above seats on the east and west sides of the sports venue.
“In Texas we do things bigger and better,” said Kevin Hurley, Sr. Associate, Athletic Director for Facilities and Construction at Texas A&M. “We wanted it to be the biggest stadium in the SEC and in the state of Texas. That was the goal and we achieved it. I think our stadium is now the benchmark for college football stadiums across the country. For the Aggie fans, donors, boosters, alumni and others, we’ve tried to get them a game experience that’s second to none and I think we’ve delivered on that in many respects.”
The new design makes Kyle Field’s seating capacity greater than that of 102,455-seat Neyland Stadium, home field for the University of Tennessee Volunteers football team and previously the largest venue in the SEC. It also surpassed the seating capacity of the University of Texas' Darrell K. Royal Stadium, heretofore the largest in the state.
Texas A&M put on a three-day celebration for the reopening of the stadium beginning the afternoon before the game and continuing until the day after.
The newly rebuilt stadium is the result of a $485-million, two-phase, two-year project. After approval by the Texas A&M Board of Regents in November 2013, Phase 1 of the project started out with the demolition of the first deck of the east side of the stadium followed by its reconstruction and the substantial construction of the south end zone area, which includes seating, media interview areas, 12th Man Productions, a commissary and a recruiting area.
Phase 2 of the project kicked in after the 2014 football season ended and entailed demolition of the entire west side of the stadium, its reconstruction, and completion of the south end zone.
The redeveloped stadium’s technological improvements in Wi-Fi and cell phone signal reception and other electronic elements are also factors Hurley noted as significantly improved at the stadium.
“We made a concerted effort to be the most technologically advanced stadium in the country,” claimed Hurley. “Our Wi-Fi, our cell phone signal are comparable to some pro football stadiums. I think we have to have a few more games to prove we can maintain these levels on a longterm basis but, so far, the consensus is that we’re pretty technologically advanced. I’d stack us up against anybody on the technology front.”
Kyle Field is the first stadium in the country to have a full state-of-the-art Corning ONE fiber network installed throughout the stadium. The network features more than 1,800 antennas and serves more than 1,000 television screens around the stadium.
Other design features of the redesigned stadium include a large increase in the number of female restrooms and the creation of special shaded “Cool Zones” around the stadium. Another element of Kyle Field’s design relates to how intimidating it can be for visiting teams.
It has long been deemed one of the most intimidating stadiums in the nation, as noted in “ESPN The Magazine” and many other media outlets. Some design elements of the redeveloped stadium were incorporated partly to accentuate that kind of home field advantage, according to Hurley.
“We put canopies on to try to hold the noise in,” noted Hurley. “We cut the distance from the team benches to the field wall of the stadium by something like 22 feet. We’ve tried to do everything we can to make it a tougher, more intimidating, louder environment for the football team’s advantage.”
Russ Simons, Managing Partner with Venues Solutions Group (VSG), was the point person for VSG in working with the Texas A&M Athletic Department and the 12th Man Foundation to provide operational consulting and support to the renovation project of Kyle Field.
“The whole operation of Kyle Field has gone from what we might call just a normal collegiate operation to an operation that today is more reflective of what you would see in an NFL facility in terms of the overall quality, the overall choices, the management of the facility operations,” said Simons.
VSG provides operational consulting for public assembly facilities, helping clients plan how to most effectively design and use a building from various perspectives including things like guest experience, revenue generation, safety and security, "elements that bring a public assembly facility to life,” as Simons put it.
The Kyle Field redevelopment also entailed:
• The addition of a new seating deck and concourse on the upper level with approximately 12,000 seats to create a South Side Upper Level
• Demolition of the Read Building, G. Rollie White Coliseum and the Netum Steed strength and conditioning facility adjacent to Kyle Field; construction of a new strength and conditioning area on the university’s west campus
• Creation of a scoreboard facility on the exterior of the north end zone and new interior scoreboards established in the south end zone and the northeast and northwest corners of the redeveloped stadium
Texas A&M brought in Levy Restaurants for its concession operations, branded Aggie Hospitality at the Kyle Field operation.
“By bringing in a national leader like Levy Restaurants into the design of Kyle Field, you really are getting a great deal of institutional experience, you’re getting a company that’s known for its menus and presentation and it’s a significant change from the way the concessions were operated previously, which was in-house by the Athletic Department,” noted Simons. “It will now be more in line with recognized best practices and standards for stadiums.”
Levy Restaurants/Aggie Hospitality has recipes and branding specifically for Texas A&M’s guests like their “Aggie Dog,” a four-foot, 12-pound hot dog, and the “Howdy Dog,” a chicken-fried steak hot dog. They are also offering chicken-fried chopped steak burgers and bacon bleu cheese fries, among other items. The food service operation is also working with Texas-based partner Slovacek Sausage.
Texas A&M’s celebration for the rebuilt stadium began with a rededication on Friday, Sept. 11, of the university’s bronze statue of 1957 Heisman Trophy winner and athletic director John David Crowe at its new location at the northwest corner of the stadium. A new Core Values monument was unveiled, as well.
At midnight on Friday, Aggie fans engaged in the time-honored tradition of Yell Practice.
“Think about that,” said Simons, who attended the weekend’s events. “Some 50,000 people attending a Yell Practice at midnight on the night before the regular football game. That’s unique and unless you’ve been around Texas A&M and have had some exposure to Aggie culture, it’s difficult to explain this phenomenon. It is singularly unique and fascinating.”
Game day Saturday started at 7 a.m. with massive tailgating, live music and free food. Sunday a gala and open house was held at Kyle Field that included tours of the Hall of Champions and All American club.
“I thought the Hall of Champions was the most unique space in all of sports in North America,” exclaimed Simons. “It’s about 40,000 square feet, an atrium-type space about three stories tall. It’s dedicated to the rich athletic history of all Texas A&M sports. I’ve never seen a space like it anywhere.”
Texas A&M’s Hurley felt the celebration was well conceived and executed.
“What we tackled in two football seasons, without missing a home game, to bring the stadium to this level – we wanted to celebrate this great accomplishment,” he said. “We did a great job in building it so we had to do a great job in celebrating it.”
The A&M system is a statewide network of 11 universities, seven state agencies, two service units and a comprehensive health science center.
Interviewed for this story: Kevin Hurley, (979) 862-2575; Russ Simons, (816) 352-6494