Tennessee set to begin highly anticipated wi-fi project in Neyland Stadium

For the last decade, Tennessee fans have asked at the start of every football season. When is the cell service going to improve at Neyland Stadium and when is wi-fi coming — the answer is now. 

Tennessee has partnered with M S Benbow and Associates, who has done multiple stadiums in both college and the NFL, to create a high density Wi-Fi network that will service the stadium.

And it’s no simple project. But it’s arguably the biggest priority project for Neyland Stadium. 

“We knew we wanted to re-establish the priorities with the 180 million dollar project. We didn’t know where it was going to go ultimately then the board (of trustees) approved 288 million last June, wi-fi was if not 1a, it was 1b,” deputy athletics director/chief operating officer Ryan Alpert told Volquest. “Fan experience is the priority which is why the south concourse has to get done. We have to widen it, add restrooms and concessions. But the other priority is connectivity. So that’s why I say 1a and 1b. We announced great growth in season ticket sales on Tuesday. How are you going to keep them? You have to invest back into the fan experience. That starts with how they enter the stadium and how they engage on gameday. Wi-fi doesn’t just give you the ability to text or get on Twitter, but we can communicate with them through the app. There’s concession opportunities. We can push them stats during the game. It creates a whole different level of experience.” 

The project is expected to cost 12-14 million dollars and will not be fully completed till the start of Tennessee’s 2024 season. Why so expensive and why will it take so long? In layman’s terms it’s not easy to do in the 102 year old venue and they are creating a network not just for now but for the future.

“We are setting up for 6e which isn’t approved yet. As people use data you want your access points closer together. We are going to be one access point for every 55 seats in a circular fashion. They will be bolted under seats out of the way. The lower the number of seats per access point, the faster. It started as one access point per 100 because you just wanted to make a phone call or send a text. Now I want to upload Twitter. I want to stream something. I want to send video so you need more access points to service the fan. We will have roughly 2000 access points throughout the lower and upper bowl. Long term we don’t want to have to come back and rewire or re-drill. Our thought was to get as advanced as we could in preparation for the next 10-15 years.

“You have a 102 year old stadium. It’s solid concrete. There’s steel beams throughout the stadium to the infrastructure is challenging.”

To put in the access points, holes will be drilled for each access point with wires pulled through them to the access point to create the network. 

“Massey electric is the subcontractor on the project, who has done a lot of work on the stadium. It’s a great value to have a very reputable, local company that has a lot of experience at Neyland Stadium to understand the challenges of taking one of the most historical venues in all of sport and adding one of the most advanced technologies in the country to it. That marriage is a challenge that takes a lot of time, effort and energy to core drill through the backside of the bowl to under the seat and pull the wires to the access point,” Alpert explained. 

Work on the project will start in early summer and will continue throughout the football season and into the summer of 2024. The first priority Alpert said is with the entrance areas.

“For this season we are trying to fast forward the plaza and ticketing areas,” Alpert said. “As we implemented digital ticketing last year and going into this year we would like to be give first and foremost wi-fi to our plaza areas to ensure as fans come up to the stadium they can download their ticket. So those are the number one priorities then we will start in the lower bowl with the student section working our way around to enhance our full fan experience.”

An experience fans have been waiting for and requesting for years. Tennessee will open the 2023 home schedule on September 9th against Austin-Peay. The Vols will complete spring practice Saturday inside Neyland Stadium with the orange and white game.