In a bit of coincidental timing that can not be ignored, Texas announced plans to commission a study examining the feasibility of expanding the south end zone of Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Monday. This comes on the heels of Texas A&M's recent renovations that will push Kyle Field's capacity to 102,500 by 2015.
DKR's present capacity? 100,119.
“The south end project is conceptual at this point,” Texas athletics director Steve Patterson said in a statement. “Any further planning will depend on a variety of factors to be studied over the next several months.”
Texas is in the midst of major facility upheaval across the university. The university has announced plans to establish a new medical center - supplementing the existing ones in Dallas, Houston and Galveston - on the current site of Frank Erwin Center, thereby necessitating a new basketball arena in the coming years.
A south end zone build out would entail the construction of a number of suites - as all stadium upgrades do in this day and age - along with connecting the stadium's east and west sides. Texas has invested a number of improvements into its 90-year old home over the past decade and a half, removing the track and astroturf installed in the 1970's, enclosing the north end zone and creating a new club level, uprooting the grass surface for field turf and boosting the capacity by 25 percent in the process.
How a potential south end zone renovation would affect the Moncrief-Neuhaus athletic center, home to the Longhorns' coaches offices, locker room, weight room and meeting rooms, remains to be seen.