Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium
Encyclopedia
Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium is an American football
stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas
and serves as the home field of the University of Arkansas
Razorbacks
football team since its opening in 1938. The stadium was formerly known as Razorback Stadium since 1941 before being renamed in 2001 in honor of Donald W. Reynolds
, an American businessman and philanthropist. The playing field
in the stadium is named the Frank Broyles Field, honoring former Arkansas head football coach and athletic director Frank Broyles
.
Razorback Stadium increased the seating capacity from 51,000 to 72,000 (with an option to expand capacity to 80,000 with temporary bleacher seating) during the 2000-2001 renovations. The stadium also features a 30 by 107 feet SmartVision
LED
display, which was then the largest video board at any sports venue in the world.
, with the University of Arkansas only paying 22 percent of the contact. The stadium opened for the 1938 football season
as University Stadium, holding a capacity of 13,500 spectators. In the home opener for the Razorbacks, the Razorbacks defeated Oklahoma A&M by a score of 27–7 on September 24, 1938. The following week, Arkansas dedicated the stadium to then sitting Arkansas Governor Carl E. Bailey
on October 3, 1938, changing the name of the stadium to Bailey Stadium. Following Governor Bailey's defeat in the 1940 gubernatorial election to Homer Martin Adkins
, the stadium's name was changed in 1941 to Razorback Stadium.
Athletic director Frank Broyles began searching for architects for the proposed $65 million stadium expansion and renovation in 1998, believing that the renovation was needed in order for the Razorbacks to compete in the Southeastern Conference at a consistent level. Broyles hoped for a completion date of 2000 or 2001 and narrowed the search down to three architecture firms: Eisenman Architects of New York, Heery International
of Atlanta
and Rosser International of Atlanta. Broyles awarded the renovation contract to Heery International with local support from the Wittenberg, DeLoney and Davidson architecture firm of Fayetteville.
The renovation was partly funded by the Donald W. Reynolds
Foundation, when the foundation donated $21 million in 1999 to help renovate the stadium. What was then the largest LED
display in a sports venue, the 30 by 107 foot screen produced by SmartVision
was installed along with a new scoreboard at the northern end zone in 2000. The expansion was completed before the beginning of the 2001 football season
, increasing the permanent seating capacity to 72,000 from its previous capacity of 51,000 seats. The Razorback Stadium was renamed Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in honor of the generosity by the Reynolds Foundation on September 8, 2001, where Arkansas lost to Tennessee
by a score of 13–3.
On November 3, 2007, the date of the last Fayetteville home game of the 2007 football season, the playing field was dedicated and named in honor of outgoing athletic director Frank Broyles.
in Little Rock, Arkansas
. Athletic director Frank Broyles wanted to move all home games to Razorback Stadium to help pay off the $30 million bond that was to be used for expanding and renovating the stadium in 1999. Broyles pointed out that the expanded Razorback Stadium would increase revenue to $3 million per game compared to the $2 million per game for playing at War Memorial Stadium. However, Little Rock investors did not like the idea of moving all home games to Fayetteville and countered with an offer to renovate and expand War Memorial Stadium to increase revenue. Also, Little Rock investor Warren Stephens threatened to discontinue his family's support ($150,000 in annual donations with an additional $1 million in annual support from his family's company Stephens Inc.
) for the program if games were pulled from Little Rock. After listening to both Chuck Neinas (Broyles' consultant on the issue) and Stephens in January 2000, the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees voted 9 to 1 to sign a compromised contract with the owners of War Memorial Stadium. The contract would keep at least two Razorbacks game, with one being a conference game, in Little Rock until the end of the 2014 season. In 2008, the contract with War Memorial Stadium was extended through the 2016 football season by athletic director Jeff Long
.
offered the Fayetteville chapter of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America use of the stadium during the Razorback's bye-week
in the 2010 season.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Fayetteville is the county seat of Washington County, and the third largest city in Arkansas. The city is centrally located within the county and is home to the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is also deep in the Boston Mountains, a subset of The Ozarks...
and serves as the home field of the University of Arkansas
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...
Razorbacks
Arkansas Razorbacks
The Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the names of college sports teams at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The term Arkansas Razorbacks properly applies to any of the sports teams at the university. The Razorbacks take their name from the feral pig of the same name...
football team since its opening in 1938. The stadium was formerly known as Razorback Stadium since 1941 before being renamed in 2001 in honor of Donald W. Reynolds
Donald W. Reynolds
Donald W. Reynolds was an American businessman and philanthropist. During his lifetime, he was best known for his involvement in the Donrey Media Group.-Biography:...
, an American businessman and philanthropist. The playing field
Playing field
A playing field is a field used for playing sports or games. They are generally outdoors, but many large structures exist to enclose playing fields from bad weather. Generally, playing fields are wide expanses of grass, dirt or sand without many obstructions...
in the stadium is named the Frank Broyles Field, honoring former Arkansas head football coach and athletic director Frank Broyles
Frank Broyles
John Franklin Broyles is a former American football player and coach, athletics administrator, and broadcaster. He served as the head football coach the University of Missouri in 1957 and at the University of Arkansas from 1958 to 1976...
.
Razorback Stadium increased the seating capacity from 51,000 to 72,000 (with an option to expand capacity to 80,000 with temporary bleacher seating) during the 2000-2001 renovations. The stadium also features a 30 by 107 feet SmartVision
SmartVision
Technicolor SmartVision is the latest update of the SmartVision service platform software, intended for use for a converged media service for set-top boxes, mobileTV and PCs to access content in a time-delayed, on-demand or linear manner. The content is delivered agnostic to the network, but...
LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
display, which was then the largest video board at any sports venue in the world.
History
Before 1938, the Razorbacks played in a 300-seat stadium built in 1901 on land on top of "The Hill", which is now occupied by Mullins Library and the Fine Arts Center (in the "center" of campus). The new stadium cost approximately $492,000 and was funded by the Works Progress AdministrationWorks Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
, with the University of Arkansas only paying 22 percent of the contact. The stadium opened for the 1938 football season
1938 college football season
The 1938 college football season ended with the Horned Frogs of Texas Christian University being named the nation’s #1 team by 55 of the 77 electors in the Associated Press writers' poll. The AP poll was in its second year, and seven votes were taken during the final weeks of the 1937 season,...
as University Stadium, holding a capacity of 13,500 spectators. In the home opener for the Razorbacks, the Razorbacks defeated Oklahoma A&M by a score of 27–7 on September 24, 1938. The following week, Arkansas dedicated the stadium to then sitting Arkansas Governor Carl E. Bailey
Carl Edward Bailey
Carl Edward Bailey was the 31st Governor of Arkansas from 1937 to 1941.-Early life and career:Carl Edward Bailey was born in Bernie, Missouri. He attended Missouri public schools and graduated from high school in Campbell, Missouri in 1912. Bailey wished to attend the University of Missouri but...
on October 3, 1938, changing the name of the stadium to Bailey Stadium. Following Governor Bailey's defeat in the 1940 gubernatorial election to Homer Martin Adkins
Homer Martin Adkins
Homer Martin Adkins was the 32nd Governor of Arkansas. He was born near Jacksonville in Pulaski County, Arkansas. In 1908, he attended Draughon's Business College and graduated from the Little Rock College of Pharmacy in 1911 as a licensed pharmacist.Adkins served in the United States Army during...
, the stadium's name was changed in 1941 to Razorback Stadium.
Heery International
Heery International, Inc. is an architectural firm that was founded in 1952 by George T. Heery and his father C. Wilmer Heery, Jr., and is currently headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia...
of Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
and Rosser International of Atlanta. Broyles awarded the renovation contract to Heery International with local support from the Wittenberg, DeLoney and Davidson architecture firm of Fayetteville.
The renovation was partly funded by the Donald W. Reynolds
Donald W. Reynolds
Donald W. Reynolds was an American businessman and philanthropist. During his lifetime, he was best known for his involvement in the Donrey Media Group.-Biography:...
Foundation, when the foundation donated $21 million in 1999 to help renovate the stadium. What was then the largest LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
display in a sports venue, the 30 by 107 foot screen produced by SmartVision
SmartVision
Technicolor SmartVision is the latest update of the SmartVision service platform software, intended for use for a converged media service for set-top boxes, mobileTV and PCs to access content in a time-delayed, on-demand or linear manner. The content is delivered agnostic to the network, but...
was installed along with a new scoreboard at the northern end zone in 2000. The expansion was completed before the beginning of the 2001 football season
2001 NCAA Division I-A football season
The 2001 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the University of Miami winning the national title for the fifth time.The Hurricanes were led by Larry Coker, who was in his first year as head coach after five years as Miami's offensive coordinator under Butch Davis...
, increasing the permanent seating capacity to 72,000 from its previous capacity of 51,000 seats. The Razorback Stadium was renamed Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in honor of the generosity by the Reynolds Foundation on September 8, 2001, where Arkansas lost to Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
by a score of 13–3.
On November 3, 2007, the date of the last Fayetteville home game of the 2007 football season, the playing field was dedicated and named in honor of outgoing athletic director Frank Broyles.
Controversy
Since 1948, home games were divided between two venues: Razorback Stadium and War Memorial StadiumWar Memorial Stadium (Arkansas)
War Memorial Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas. The stadium is primarily used for American football and is the home stadium for the Arkansas Baptist Buffaloes, Catholic High School Rockets, and the secondary home stadium for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks...
in Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
. Athletic director Frank Broyles wanted to move all home games to Razorback Stadium to help pay off the $30 million bond that was to be used for expanding and renovating the stadium in 1999. Broyles pointed out that the expanded Razorback Stadium would increase revenue to $3 million per game compared to the $2 million per game for playing at War Memorial Stadium. However, Little Rock investors did not like the idea of moving all home games to Fayetteville and countered with an offer to renovate and expand War Memorial Stadium to increase revenue. Also, Little Rock investor Warren Stephens threatened to discontinue his family's support ($150,000 in annual donations with an additional $1 million in annual support from his family's company Stephens Inc.
Stephens Inc.
Stephens Inc. is a full service, privately owned investment bank based in Little Rock, Arkansas.-History:Stephens Inc. was founded in 1933 by W.R. Witt Stephens. His brother, Jackson T. Stephens joined the firm in 1946 and served as Chairman of the Board and CEO of Stephens Inc. from 1956 to 1986....
) for the program if games were pulled from Little Rock. After listening to both Chuck Neinas (Broyles' consultant on the issue) and Stephens in January 2000, the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees voted 9 to 1 to sign a compromised contract with the owners of War Memorial Stadium. The contract would keep at least two Razorbacks game, with one being a conference game, in Little Rock until the end of the 2014 season. In 2008, the contract with War Memorial Stadium was extended through the 2016 football season by athletic director Jeff Long
Jeff Long
Jeff Long is an American writer. Long is an experienced climber, and rock climbing often manifests in his writing.Many of his stories include plot elements that rely heavily on religious history or popular perceptions of religious events....
.
Other uses
In 2010, Razorback Stadium was used for youth football when head football coach Bobby PetrinoBobby Petrino
Bobby Petrino is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at the University of Arkansas, a position he has held since the 2008 season...
offered the Fayetteville chapter of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America use of the stadium during the Razorback's bye-week
Bye (sports)
A bye, in sports and other competitive activities, most commonly refers to the practice of allowing a player or team to advance to the next round of a playoff tournament without playing...
in the 2010 season.