JOHN ADAMS

John Adams: Tennessee's fans deserve bigger seats

John Adams
USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

Now that Tennessee has its new chancellor (Beverly Davenport) and athletic director (John Currie) in place, it can focus on making UT a powerhouse in both academics and athletics.

That’s going to take some firing, building and planning. Fortunately for UT’s new administrators, the previous administration already has taken progressive steps. Most notably, it realized that UT needed to upgrade its most hallowed building, Neyland Stadium.

The initial renovation is scheduled to begin between the 2018 and 2019 football seasons. While that’s more than a year away, I'm not waiting to submit my own recommendations, not just for Neyland Stadium but for the entire Tennessee football experience.

Stadium capacity: Less is more.

UT needs to forget about its six-figure seating capacity. Having a 100,000-plus-seat stadium was a big deal when Tennessee had the largest stadium in the country.

Now, it’s just another big stadium. And it still will be a big stadium if you expand the size of seats to accommodate an average-sized human.

Let’s face it. Many UT fans are more of the full-figure type than petite. And it’s inhumane to cram them into a seat designed for a cast member of “Little People, Big World.”

More restrooms: If you have attended a UT football game, you surely have stood in line to use the restroom.

A female fan told me she counted 31 fans ahead of her in line for the women’s restroom at a game last season. She then tried to enter a “family restroom” for which there was no line.

The University of Tennessee football team takes the field as the Pride of the Southland marching band performs a pregame show and fans checker Neyland Stadium orange and white for the Florida game on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016.

However, security intervened, making it clear that if you want to use a family restroom, you must be accompanied by child.

UT should either add more restrooms or have rental children available for family-restroom purposes.

Flexible concession prices: Once a Tennessee game gets out of hand – like in the second quarter against Alabama last season – some fans don’t want to stick around.

It could go the other way, too. If the Vols are overwhelming an inferior opponent, fans might head for their cars in the third quarter.

UT should reward fans willing to stay by cutting concession prices in half anytime either team has more than a four-touchdown lead.

Vol Walk: Not everyone is physically capable of standing for a long time while waiting for the Vols. How about accommodating them with bleacher seating?

You surely would draw a bigger crowd, which would make more noise, which would make the Vols more motivated to beat the padding out of their opponent.

Guard rails: Another way to make the Vol Walk less demanding: Put up railing as a safety measure.

Not for the fans, but for players and coaches.

For example, suppose a coach blew out his knee on his way to the stadium. All he can do now is rush to the stadium for a medical injection.

With railing for support, he could take his time without risking a fall.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: Twitter.com/johnadamskns.   

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