The University of Tennessee will break ground on its ambitious Neyland Entertainment District in summer 2026.
The $280 million project will be built between Neyland Stadium and Food City Center. The mixed-use sports entertainment district will include a hybrid condo-hotel overlooking the stadium, a rooftop bar, restaurants, shops, event space and fan experiences.
The Neyland Entertainment District is still pending approval by the UT Board of Trustees and various state commissions that deal with capital projects. The project is on the agenda for the May 4 meeting of the UT Board of Trustees.
UT provided documents to Knox News of the latest proposal, which reveals new details of the project to go along with previously released plans.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Neyland Entertainment District.
When Neyland Entertainment District will open
Athletics director Danny White said UT is on track to open the entertainment district in early 2028 and the condo-hotel in 2029. He doesn’t anticipate any major obstacles.
If the UT Board of Trustees approves the project on May 4, the university must get clearance from state building commissions. White said he’s eager to get started on the development that was first announced in 2023.
UT plans to break ground in summer 2026, beginning with the demolition of two-thirds of the G10 garage.
Cost of Neyland Entertainment District
It will be a $280 million project as a private sector investment for UT, according to documents obtained by Knox News.
That includes $215 million for the construction of a mixed-use condo hotel and $65 million for an entertainment district.
Size, number of rooms at condo-hotel property
The condo-hotel property will cover 440,000 square feet. It will include 180 hotel rooms, 30 hotel-condo units, 50 luxury condo units and a rooftop bar overlooking Neyland Stadium.
Here are more details of the condo-hotel property:
- 10,000 square feet of restaurants
- 10,000 square feet of meeting and event space
- 5,000 square feet of dedicated university space
- Resort style swimming pool
- More than 220 parking spaces
Details, size of entertainment district
The entertainment district proposal includes 110,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space. Here are the details of that portion of the development:
- 60,000 square feet of exterior plazas
- 50,000 square feet of interior restaurants
- 7,000-person total capacity (4,000 outdoor for concerts + 3,000 indoor)
- Enhanced G10 plaza and student entry
- Path to Neyland Stadium from entertainment district
Potential restaurants, pizzeria, sports bar
In 2024, Knox News obtained the initial 53-page plan by the 865 Neyland Project team, which developed the property.
Those preliminary plans included two interior levels with as many as six restaurant and bar concepts, an outdoor recreation area, a performance stage and large digital screens for watch parties and other events.
Granted, the plans are open to adjustments. And restaurant brands cannot be secured until late in the process. But that initial bid, which UT accepted, suggested some possibilities based on the project team’s previous relationships.
These are just plausible examples of what could be in the project. But here are potential restaurants and concepts that were presented in that 2024 proposal:
- Vols & Rec: Imagine a two-story sports bar with a small menu, large LED screen, a UT football history aesthetic and a studio for Vols Network broadcasts with Neyland Stadium as the backdrop.
- Rocky Top Tavern: Southern inspired menu with steaks, seafood, bourbon, craft cocktails and a patio with firepit.
- Fox Brother’s Bar-B-Q: This popular barbecue and Southern-cuisine restaurant is a favorite at The Battery, the entertainment district alongside the Atlanta Braves’ Truist Park. This project team helped create The Battery, so this partnership would make sense.
- Stiletto Brother’s Pizza: This New York style pizza venue is popular at The Armory, the entertainment district alongside the St. Louis Cardinals’ Busch Stadium, which this team also helped to create.
- Southern Tier Brewing Company: An indoor-outdoor bar featuring a wide selection of craft beers.
Bridges will connect district to riverfront, Neyland Stadium
There will be several ways to get to the entertainment district from Neyland Stadium, Food City Center, Tennessee Riverfront and Downtown Knoxville.
There will be two interior levels with cascading roof terraces. According to the 2024 plan, fans will be able to access the area from the ground floor, parking garage or ramp.
They could enter it from Food City Center via the current pedestrian bridge. There will be multiple access points to and from Neyland Stadium, including an enclosed skybridge from the hotel to the east stadium skybox.
And two pedestrian bridges are planned to go over Neyland Drive, connecting the Tennessee Riverfront to the entertainment district. An improved greenway and new boardwalk would be added to the area.
What happens to G10 parking garage, tailgating spot
UT must tear down the G10 garage and rebuild it to ensure the structural integrity for the hotel on top. That will displace thousands of students during the week and fans on gamedays.
According to the sign at the garage, it currently has approximately 1,800 spaces. The new G10 garage will have 1,200 parking spaces, according to plans the UT System Board of Trustees approved in February 2025. But the project hasn’t broken ground yet, and White said, ultimately, the new G10 garage will be bigger and better than the old one.
UT spokesman Jason Baum said the athletic department has discussed alternative options with the university throughout the development of the project. A finalized plan will be announced at a later date.
Many longtime fans and boosters park at G10 garage, located a few feet from the south end of Neyland Stadium. The top level is considered a premier parking area, and the entire structure has been a favorite tailgating spot for fans for many years.
Other SEC stadiums have hotels but not like this
A hotel towering next to Neyland Stadium will be quite a sight, and its rooftop restaurant will offer unique views on game day. It’s not a new concept, but it’s more common in pro sports than on college campuses.
There are a few examples of on-campus hotels in the SEC. However, most are not located as close to the football stadium as the hotel next to Neyland Stadium will be.
- A Marriott overlooks Vanderbilt Stadium, where hotel guests can watch football games from their window with an end-zone view. The football team stays there the night before home games and recruits stay there on official visits.
- At Alabama, Hotel Capstone is on campus along Paul Bryant Drive across the street from Alabama’s basketball arena and baseball stadium and a half-mile walk from Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Alabama football team stays at Hotel Capstone the night before home games.
- Georgia’s football team stays at the University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education and Hotel before home games. The hotel is located on campus less than a half-mile from Sanford Stadium.
- The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center is on Auburn’s campus across the street from the university library and a half-mile walk from Jordan-Hare Stadium.
- At Arkansas, the Inn at Carnall Hall is a former women’s dorm and men’s fraternity house on campus a half-mile from the football stadium. The 118-year-old building is now a boutique hotel and pricey option for fans for home games.
- South Carolina’s Williams-Brice Stadium, adjacent to the state fairgrounds, is surrounded by condominiums.
Pro sports district developers, including UT grads, working on project
Sports entertainment districts have become very popular in recent years, but they’ve mostly been in professional sports.
UT is working with designers and developers with expertise in creating entertainment districts. That includes a management team that spurred the success of sports entertainment districts surrounding stadiums for the Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers and Philadelphia’s Phillies, Flyers and Eagles.
Every facet of the project team includes UT graduates. That’s not a surprise considering the university touts renowned schools of architecture, design and engineering.
UT graduate Taylor Gray will be the development and construction lead on the project. He’s developed entertainment districts alongside stadiums for the Texas Rangers, Dallas Cowboys and St. Louis Cardinals.
Johnson Architecture includes president Daryl Johnson, project manager Jimmy Ryan, principal architect Rick Friel and intern architect JD Schumacher – all alums of UT’s architecture school.
UT grads Randall Coy, David Bailey, Kate O’Neil and Daniel Cremin are part of the design team.
Rusty Whitlock, a mechanical engineer, and Charles Hamblin, a structural design engineer, round out the UT alums.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing atknoxnews.com/subscribe.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Neyland Entertainment District details, parking, renderings at Tennessee