The Texas A&M Aggies are returning to Austin for the first time since 2010 this season. To Aggies who traveled to Austin the last time all those years ago, Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium will look very different. So, what has changed?
2011 — The first change to the stadium came only one year after A&M’s last go-round. Ahead of the 2011 season, the Longhorn locker room got an upgrade featuring 135 new wide-space lockers, a state-of-the-art exhaust system, a nutrition bar, a lounge area with gaming stations, a new sound system and six LED screens, including a 72-inch screen in the center of the room.
2012 — The next improvement came only one year later with the construction of the Walter W. Fondren III Athletics Leadership Center, a nearly 54,000 square-foot space, which included executive and business offices, men’s and women’s basketball offices, travel services and more.
This allowed the management and leadership of Texas Athletics to move out of Bellmont Hall on the west side of the stadium, opening more space for the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education, which was previously limited to the first floor.
After the 2012 season, Texas completed a waterproofing and bleacher replacement project on the lower east and west grandstands. They repaired, sealed and painted damaged concrete and installed new bleachers and chairbacks. This served a dual purpose of preserving DKR and improving the fan experience.
2017 — Texas Athletics added a new video board and ribbon boards inside of DKR ahead of the 2017 season. The west-side façade also saw restoration and reinforcement, including an application of a protective coating and paint. Minor improvements were also made to the locker, weight and meeting rooms at the Moncrief-Neuhaus Athletic Center.
2019 — Two years later came the biggest change yet, as ground was broken on a $175 million expansion of the south end zone. The 215,000 square-foot project included a 106,000 square-foot training facility, 4,500 new seats, a collection of club and box seating that accommodates more than 800 people and a brand new 160-by-44-foot video board.
This change will be the most recognizable to Aggies returning to DKR for the first time in a decade and a half. The project was completed ahead of the 2021 season.
2020 — In the midst of the south end zone project’s completion, UT made two significant changes to the stadium.
First, the field was renamed from Joe Jamail Field to Campbell-Williams Field to honor UT’s two Heisman trophy winners, Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams. Second, a statue of Julius Whittier, Texas football’s first black letterman, was erected on the north end outside the stadium on Deloss Dodds Way.
2021 — The field was changed physically just one year after it was changed nominally, as Texas Athletics hired FieldTurf USA to install new FieldTurf in 2021. The new playing surface, designed with a multi-layer dual polymer surface, cost the Longhorns nearly $430,000.
2023 — In a week two matchup against Wyoming, Texas debuted a new burnt-orange LED lighting system. The system included app integration that allowed fans to use their phones to join the light show.
