The Texas Athletics Director makes a big announcement as he lays out the future of Longhorn Facilities…
Texas Longhorns Athletics Director Chris Del Conte has unveiled a series of initiatives aimed at enhancing the DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium and the upcoming football practice facility. The university initially announced the new complex in April, with construction set to commence in June. The updated sports complex will be situated south of the Rec Sports Center, replacing the current location of the Steve Hicks School of Social Work and Child Development Center. Del Conte assured that the social work office would not be removed if it was in use, but once it was upgraded, he moved swiftly to secure the property for Texas Athletics. “When the social work building became available, I met with President [Jay] Hartzell and asked if we could participate in this new venture to have that area, so we’ll have a brand new indoor and outdoor field,” Del Conte said.
In addition to the practice facility, Del Conte outlined plans for a new scoreboard, recruiting lounge, refurbishments to the Touchdown Club, more upper-deck suites, and UT club and concessions inside the stadium. The new football facility will also include private parking spaces for student-athletes. “We’re going to address the scoreboard, it was time to get that done and to be honest, it’s kind of a mess, so we’ll have the new scoreboard ready to go this summer and it is going to be backlit with a whole new metal structure that when you see it and (teams) from the Southeastern Conference walk in, they’re going to know they’re in DKR-Memorial Stadium,” said Del Conte. “We just finished part of our brand-new recruiting lounge, we just opened that up now.”
Another significant change coming to Austin is concessions. Del Conte introduced plans for a “grab and go” method for fans to purchase promptly to enjoy the game without waiting in lines. Del Conte mentioned how he wanted a more effort approach to provide food and drink options while granting a more efficient service for fans. “We know you’re spending dollars on us so we want to be mindful of that and part of that is coming into the stadium and having accessible food at fan-friendly pricing,” Del Conte said. “We’ll be offering these throughout the stadium, and if you see the grab-and-go’s that we have at Moody [Center], we’ll redo the concessions on the concourse of the east side now.”
As Texas transitions to the SEC, Del Conte aims to position the university as a premier location in the new conference. This includes prioritizing night games, a departure from the Big 12’s tradition of early kickoffs. Del Conte hopes Texas will be viewed alongside Alabama, Georgia, LSU, and Tennessee as a top destination for late-night games. “There are 11 am windows in the SEC, but they’re never Alabama against LSU or Alabama against Texas,” said Del Conte. “Those games will always be later, it would be disingenuous of me to say that we won’t have any early games, I just don’t think we’ll have a steady diet of them.”
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