Darrell K. Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium

As Texas football moves into the 21st century, Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium continues to evolve as a state-of-the-art facility at the forefront of college football.

Expansion plans are already in place for the north end zone, which will feature and upper deck, club seating, an academic center and a war memorial plaza for the 2008 season. The expansion is expected to increase the stadium’s capacity to over 90,000, and add approximately 2,000 club seats and 44 suites.

More immediately, two major upgrades have been made for the 2006 season, including a new video board and temporary bleacher seating in the south end zone, which has expanded the stadium's capacity by over 4,000 seats to a total of 85,123.

The scoreboard is the nation’s largest high-definition video display board thanks to DAKtronics. The $8-million Prostar Video Board is 55 feet high by 134 feet wide and will offer complete flexibility, with the capability to show one large single video image, multiple video images, and a combination of live or recorded video with real time scores and stats, out of town game information, sponsors’ messages, graphics and animation.

In the past year, the stadium has also had renovations to the press box, the Carpenter-Winkel Centennial Room and the interior of the Moncrief-Neuhaus Athletic Center, most notably to the players' lounge. It is all part of an ongoing $150-million renovation project at the Longhorns’ stadium.

The stadium's last renovations came in August 1999 with the removal of the track and the lowering of the field by six feet to allow the addition of several rows of seats.

It was part of a $90 million-plus project that included removal of the artificial turf from the stadium, the construction of Frank Denius Fields practice facility, the Red and Charlene McCombs Softball Field, the Mike A. Myers Track and Soccer Stadium and extensive remodeling of Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium/Jamail Field and the Moncrief-Neuhaus Athletic Center.

The first stages of the ambitious project were completed in 1996. They included the installation of a sophisticated grass playing field in the stadium and the completion of the Frank Denius Practice Fields.

Progress continued in 1997 with the addition of 14 stadium suites on the west side. The first major construction to the facility since the upper deck was added in 1972 also included a total remodeling of the underside of the stands, including a new concession plaza and a visitors' locker room in the northwest corner of the stadium.

The changes that took place at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium for the 1998 football season included the addition of a 5,000-seat upper deck on the east side. The massive construction included 52 new stadium suites and a 13,000 square-foot private club room.

In the Moncrief-Neuhaus Athletic Center, significant expansion and upgrades included a new locker room, training room, trophy room, players’ lounge, football academic center and an addition almost doubling the space in the strength and conditioning area.

The football coaching and academic staffs were moved to the facility, housing the key elements of the entire football program in a single complex for the first time.

The 1999 Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays saw the dedication of the 20,000-seat Myers Track and Soccer Stadium, which includes a parking garage that serves students as well as game attendees. The facility is directly across the street from the east side of the football stadium.

The final phase of the construction began shortly after the 1998 season ended, when the 75-year-old stadium floor was excavated to a depth of six feet to allow a reconfiguration and addition of seats and the removal of the track to provide a more intimate football setting.