Rice-Eccles Stadium

RICE-ECCLES FACTS

First Game: Sept. 12, 1998 Largest Crowd: 47,825 2021 Seating Capacity: 51,444 Suites: 39 Premium Seats: 2,391 Totals Chair Seats: 17,691 Surface: FieldTurf

RICE-ECCLES STADIUM TOP CROWDS

1. 47,825 2015 Michigan 2. 47,801 2016 Washington 3. 47,798 2015 California 4. 47,619 2014 USC 5. 47,528 2014 Oregon 6. 47,445 2018 Washington 7. 47,307 2019 UCLA 8. 46,915 2016 BYU 9. 46,879 2019 Colorado 10. 46,768 2003 California 11. 46,626 2019 California 12. 46,522 2010 TCU 13. 46,488 2008 Brigham Young 14. 46,405 2018 USC 15. 46,402 2019 Arizona State With its striking design, stunning mountain backdrop and panoramic views, Rice-Eccles Stadium is recognized as one of the most beautiful college stadiums in the country. While the exterior scenery is captivating, the charged atmosphere inside Rice-Eccles Stadium makes it one of the 25 “toughest stadiums in the country” for opposing teams according to Bleacher Report.

It is also a venue that has taken on a significantly different look for this fall as an $80 million expansion and renovation was completed this past summer. The project was funded in part by a lead gift of $17.5 million from the Ken Garff family, which is the largest donation in Utah Athletics history. The new south end zone structure is named the Ken Garff Red Zone at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

“The success of our student-athletes and our department relies on the extraordinary generosity of our supporters, and the Garff family has been instrumental in elevating Utah Athletics to unimaginable heights,” said Director of Athletics Mark Harlan. “This transformational commitment from the Garffs will impact thousands of student-athletes, staff, coaches and fans for years to come, and we are forever grateful for their kindness and support of our University.”

No state or taxpayer dollars were used for the project. The former south end zone structure, built in 1982, was the only piece of old Rice Stadium retained when the current structure opened on the same grounds in 1998. The project encloses the stadium bowl by connecting the east and west concourses on the south end.

Seating capacity was increased from 45,807 to 51,444 with the addition of over 1,000 bleacher seats. The fan experience has been enhanced by the addition of premium seating options in luxury suites, loge boxes, ledge and rooftop areas. A field-level club and outdoor patio, recruiting lounge, and restaurant are also included in the new structure, as are additional points of sale for concessions and restrooms.

Addressing the need for improved game day operations, the Ken Garff Red Zone at RiceEccles Stadium includes team locker rooms and meeting rooms, as well as dedicated areas for coaches, officials, athletic training, equipment, press operations and the band. The 7,800-square foot south end zone videoboard remains in its current place.

Fueling the expansion has been Utah’s tremendous fan support in recent years. Entering this season, the Utes have played in front of 64-straight home sellouts (60 which exceeded the seating capacity) when fans were allowed to attend extending back to the

2010 opener against Pittsburgh. In its first 23 years, there have been 83 total standing-roomonly crowds.

The venue’s seating capacity was increased from 45,017 to 45,807 in 2014, and as a result, the top six season attendance averages and 12 of the top 15 single-game crowds in Rice-Eccles Stadium history were recorded over the next six years. The Utes averaged a school-record 46,533 fans per game in 2015, when they also recorded their best single-game attendance mark of 47,825 vs. Michigan. Dating back to its 13-0 Sugar Bowl campaign of 2008, Utah’s average attendance has exceeded the stadium’s capacity for 12 consecutive years.

Opened in 1998 on the grounds of the old Ute (1927-71) and Rice (1972-97) stadiums, Rice-Eccles Stadium has continued to receive upgrades in ensuing years. The latest was a state-of-the-art video scoreboard completed in the summer of 2016. Measuring 122 x 64 feet and rising 137 feet above ground, it is one of the largest college football video boards in the country. It features a high definition display with a 16:9 aspect ratio. The enhanced software to run the board delivers some of the best special effects in the sports industry and synchronizes with the LED boards in the north end zone.

Another improvement in 2016 was a distributed sound system that enhances the sound quality in every section of Rice-Eccles Stadium while also reducing noise to the surrounding community.

Rice-Eccles Stadium has also hosted a number of other major sporting events, the most prominent being the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Winter Games.

The initial groundwork for Rice-Eccles Stadium began in 1996, when a fundraising campaign was initiated to replace an aging 32,500-seat structure. A lead gift of $10 million soon came in from the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation, steered by former Ute All-America skier Spence Eccles. The total construction costs ran $50 million.

Preliminary construction work began in the summer of 1997. Two days after the final home game that fall, wrecking crews moved in and demolished Rice Stadium. Only the south end zone bleachers and the Rice name (Robert L. Rice contributed $1 million in the 1972 renovation) would carry over to the new venue. Rising from the rubble less than 10 months later was Rice-Eccles Stadium, an imposing concrete, steel and glass edifice that dominates the Salt Lake skyline.

Visible for miles is the stadium box, located 14 stories above ground and encased in a 400-square-foot expanse of tempered glass. The box is supported by twin towers containing four high-speed elevators. Occupants of the stadium box are treated to sweeping views of the Wasatch Mountains to the east and downtown Salt Lake City, the Great Salt Lake and the Oquirrh Mountains to the west.

The Cleone and Spence Eccles Scholarship Box on Level 4 seats 450 and has indoor-outdoor seating, along with eight suites. The Mezzanine on Level 5 provides another 17 suites.

Level 6 contains the John Mooney Working Press Area, named in honor of the late Ute football writer and Salt Lake Tribune sports editor, and booths for television and radio (among them the Bill Marcroft Radio Booth, named for the former longtime “Voice of the Utes”). The press, TV and radio sections open into the Varsity Reception area, which seats 400 for dining.

The stadium floor has also changed with the times. A Vertex CORE FieldTurf surface was installed in July, marking the fourth version of FieldTurf laid down in Rice-Eccles since 2002. Previous surfaces (dating back to Ute Field) were natural grass from 1927-71 and again in 2000-01, AstroTurf from 1972-95 and SportGrass from 1995-99.

Founded in 1850, the University of Utah prepares students to live and compete in the global workplace. The U. encompasses 1,500 acres in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountain range. Utah became a member of the Pac-12 Conference on July 1, 2011.

With an enrollment of over 33,000, the U offers 100 undergraduate and more than 90 graduate level fields of study. In 2019, the University of Utah became one of the newest members of the prestigious Association of American Universities, which for more than 100 years has recognized the most outstanding academic institutions in the nation. Utah is now one of 66 AAU institutions, with only 34 of those members coming from Power Five conferences.

The U offers nationally-ranked programs in law, pharmacy, mathematics, business, biomedical engineering, family medicine, social sciences and humanities, fine arts, education, architecture, entertainment arts and engineering. The U was ranked No. 11 in the nation for value according to the 2019 Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings. RESEARCH

The University of Utah surpassed the threshold of 515 million in research dollars in 2019 and was rated No. 1 for commercializing technology innovations according to the Milken Institute’s 2017 ratings.

Geneticist Mario R. Capecchi received the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on gene targeting. Çağan Şekercioğlu, assistant professor of biology, won the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey’s highest prize for 2014. Peter J. Stang, distinguished professor of chemistry, received the 2013 Priestley Medal and 2011 National Medal of Science for his pioneering work in supramolecular chemistry. TECHNOLOGY AND COMPUTER SCIENCES

The U’s entertainment arts and engineering program has been ranked regularly among the top three in the U.S. over the last decade according to Animation Career Review. The University’s computer science program, which earned a top 50 ranking in 2019, was founded in 1965 and began a pioneering legacy in computer graphics and visualization that continues today.

The College of Engineering was ranked No. 58 by U.S. News & World Report for 2022. The Scientific Computing & Imaging Institute is internationally recognized. MEDICINE

University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics, a Level I trauma center, has earned a top-10 ranking among academic medical centers for patient care 11 years in a row, incliding No. 1 in 2020. U.S. News & World Report placed the Spencer F. Eccles School of Medicine’s programs in primary care, pharmacy, physical therapy, physician assistant, and nursing in the nation’s top 40.

The U’s surgeons were the first in the world to conduct a permanent artificial heart implant in 1982. More recently, the Utah Genome Project is one of several innovative medical research programs at the U. Other notable programs include the nationallyrecognized Huntsman Cancer Institute, the Clinical Neurosciences Center and the Moran Eye Center. BUSINESS SCHOOL

The David Eccles School of Business’ undergraduate program has been rated among No. 44 by U.S. News & World Report for 2022. The graduate accounting program was rated top 35. The school was also ranked No. 10 for entrepreneurship by U.S. News & World Report. COLLEGE OF LAW

The S.J. Quinney College of Law was ranked 43rd in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for 2022. It also earned top 20 ratings for practical training, as well as its public defender/prosecutor law and environmental law programs. COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Utah’s College of Education has been ranked as high as No. 64 by U.S. News & World Report the past three years. Its special education and master’s programs were also highly rated by College Choice. CAMPUS LIFE

A lively residential living experience is provided in the beautiful Heritage Commons, which served as the Athletes Village for the 2002 Winter Olympics. The Donna Garff Marriott Honors Residential Scholars Community, the George S. Eccles Student Life Center, and the Lassonde Studios for housing student entrepreneurs have opened in recent years. The new Kahlert Village south campus housing development, featuring four theme communities and nearly 1,000 beds, opened in the fall of 2020.

SNAPSHOT OF THE U.

• Founded in 1850 • Enrollment: 33,047 • Research I University • One of 66 AAU institutions • Top 25 U.S. research universities • Over 100 undergraduate and 90 graduate majors • 2007 Nobel Prize winner Mario Cappechi • Pac-12 Conference member July 1, 2011