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Tennessee changing Neyland Stadium game day plan for fans

On3 imageby: Brent Hubbs09/17/25Brent_Hubbs
Neyland Stadium (Checker)
(Avery Bane | Tennessee Athletics)

Tennessee is implementing a series of changes to their game day operations following last week’s Georgia game where fans experienced delays and overcrowding entering and exiting Neyland Stadium. 

“I saw on my way down to the field that some of our great fans and ticket holders were having a bad experience,” Athletic Director Danny White told Volquest of what he saw Saturday. It took way too long to load the stadium. It was hot, people were frustrated. It’s not the experience anyone wants to have. I apologized to them. We did the best we could from a reactive standpoint to bring more scanners to that area, the gate 20 area specifically. What I learned in the aftermath is that our plan with the new set up and the expanded Gate 9 didn’t work like we had planned. The biggest reason is we have too tight of a footprint. As cool as the idea was to have the band come down Peyton Manning Pass after the VolWalk and do their salute to the hill, the repercussion to that was that it delayed the loading of the west side gates by about 45 minutes. 

“Such a big portion of our stadium loads through those gates (on the west side), with the tight footprint people couldn’t go left to gate 21 or right to gate 9, it created a lot of congestion. We have made the adjustment we believe that will fix the problem and not only make it way better than it was Saturday but better than it has been in previous years where we should realize the benefit that we expected to realize with the expansion of the Gate 9 concourse.”

The most notable change is re-routing the Pride of the Southland Band. The band for the first two games this season have marched to the stadium down Peyton Manning Pass and have entered the stadium at Gate 21 following the VolWalk. Starting this Saturday the band’s route will be down Volunteer Bvld., then across the pedestrian bridge at the Student Union where they will perform their salute to the hill, then they will enter the stadium on the northeast side at gate 25 and not at gate 21. 

Saturday there were five times the number of fans that went in Gate 21 compared to Gate 9 which has as many scanners and entry points. White is optimistic the adjustments will make Gate 9 more easily accessible.

“Our security perimeter when you make a right to go to Gate 14-9 where you head south when you get to the bottom of Peyton Manning Pass we had our security gate probably too close. We are going to back that up about 70 feet so the lines for that don’t bottle up that hot point at the bottom of Peyton Manning Pass. That area is always going to be a critical junction point for us. Moving forward from a construction point we need to clear out more space there and there are plans to do that. We can manage that space better than we did on Saturday.” 

As for exiting the stadium, White said they are opening up wider areas to exit from. 

“Obviously the way that game ended, everyone stayed to the end and everyone left immediately. That created some congestion. Some of the security perimeter fencing was a problem. We are going to have release valves. We are going to have sections of that fencing that will open up post game so that doesn’t happen again. That’s another thing we learned from the experience that won’t happen in the future. The whole point of that fencing and expanded scanner is to make things easier and faster for people and that’s how it works around the country. I’m confident that it will work here.”

Another area where they are trying to relieve some crowding is when you can get into the gates and where you can scan your ticket and enter the stadium. They will open up two and half hours before kickoff. So gates will open at 10:15, which is right after the VolWalk and the band will make their way to the stadium starting at 11:05. 

Tennessee is also opening up some movement for fans with coolers heading to a tailgate. Fans in G10 can move coolers up Fulmer/Peyton Manning Pass until four hours before kickoff. After that, just head to G3/G4/G5/30, take the stairs or elevator, and find your perfect tailgate spot.

White and Tennessee believe these changes will create a much easier entry and exit from the stadium, which has been his only priority this week.

“We apologize to those who had a bad experience and it’s not going to happen again. We have a plan to fix it all.” 

Here are the recommended gates to use based on where you are sitting: 

  • North concourse level 1 from section X1 – Y7 enter via gate 21
  • North concourse level 2 or Level 3 from section X1 – Y8 or XX1 – YY7 enter via gate 21 and take the ramps up just inside the gate. 
  • North concourse level 1 from Y9 – East concourse Level 1 section D enter via gate 24
  • North concourse level 2 or Level 3 from section Y9 or YY9 – East concourse level 2 or 3 section F or FF enter via gates 22 or 23
  • South concourse level 1 section Q- L enter via gate 9
  • South concourse level 2 or 3 section L-Q or LL – QQ enter via gates 11 or 12
  • South concourse level 2 or 3 section G- K or GG- KK enter via gate 10
  • West concourse level 1  or enter via gate 9
  • West concourse level 1  or enter via gate 21
  • West concourse level 2 R-T enter via gate 14
  • West concourse level 2 U-W enter via gate 20