The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, welcomes football fans and alumni to campus this Saturday for Homecoming.
Kickoff for the Volunteers’ game against the Trojans of Troy University is scheduled for noon ET, with gates opening at 10:00 a.m. Fox Sports will televise the game.
Follow @UTGameday on Twitter for the latest updates on traffic, weather, gate information and game day events such as the Vol Walk and band march. For a comprehensive list of all game day information, please visit the Tennessee Athletics website.
Tickets for Saturday’s game are available at UTTIX.com. Please be careful about purchasing counterfeit tickets, as all counterfeit tickets will be confiscated at the stadium gates and the patron denied admission.
Parking
Only fans with permits can park on campus. UT encourages others to use shuttle buses from the Old City, the Knoxville Civic Coliseum and Market Square in downtown Knoxville, and Farragut High School in west Knoxville.
Limited public accessible parking spaces and fully accessible shuttle buses to the stadium are available on the UT Agriculture Campus off Neyland Drive.
Homecoming Events
A veterans reunion, the annual campus parade, and a commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Act are among the events highlighting this year’s Homecoming celebrations.
- UT veterans and their families are invited to the third Veterans Reunion, an event held every five years. The theme of the reunion is “Your Service—Our Freedom.”
- The annual Homecoming parade will begin at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, November 2. It starts at the Rock and travels east on Volunteer Boulevard. The grand marshal is Chamique Holdsclaw, a former Lady Vol basketball star who went on to play for the WNBA.
- The Party in the Park tailgate begins at 9:00 a.m. Saturday, November 3, in Circle Park. Admission is free. The “World’s Largest MoonPie” will be cut at 10:00 a.m.
- University leaders will unveil a historical marker commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Act at 10:00 a.m. Saturday outside Ellington Plant Sciences Building on the agriculture campus. The act paved the way for the establishment of land-grant universities such as the University of Tennessee. The event is part of the Ag Day street fair, which will be held from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m. on the agriculture campus.
Read more about Homecoming events in Tennessee Today. For more information on Ag Day, visit the Institute of Agriculture website.
Game Day Activities
To reflect the Morrill Act’s mission, the university has updated its traditional Tennessee Walking Horse exhibition at this year’s Homecoming. Prior to kickoff, A Daring Affair, a flat-shod walking horse, will circle the field with rider Kimbrell Hines, a high-school senior from Winchester, Tennessee. Hines is a longtime member of the Tennessee 4-H program, and she and the horse, known affectionately as Summer, have won many horse shows around the state.
Jim Thompson, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, said the Tennessee 4-H program is one of the university’s strongest land-grant missions, thanks to young people like Hines.
“Kimbrell and Summer are doing great things and helping us all to recognize and celebrate the importance of 4-H in Tennessee and beyond,” he said.
Also prior to kickoff, during the singing of the national anthem, four F-16 aircraft will conduct a low-altitude fly-over of Neyland Stadium. The flight crew is from Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, and is led by 2001 UT alumnus, Maj. Spencer Godwin.
The traditional Vol Walk will start at 9:45 a.m. on Volunteer Boulevard in front of the Torchbearer statue. Members of the football team will proceed down Volunteer Boulevard and then continue down Peyton Manning Pass to the stadium.
The Pride of the Southland Marching Band will begin marching at 10:20 a.m. at the intersection of Pat Head Summitt Street and Volunteer Boulevard and will then follow the same path as the Vol Walk.
Fans also can attend the College of Arts and Sciences’ Pregame Showcase. Held two hours before each home game kickoff in the University Center Ballroom, the showcase is a free thirty-minute presentation by a UT faculty member. This week, at 10:00 a.m., David Reidy, professor and head of the Department of Philosophy, will discuss “The Authority of Citizens: Its Nature and Limits.”
Stadium Security
Under state law, smoking is prohibited in Neyland Stadium at all times. Fans cannot leave the stadium and be readmitted. Commercial solicitation in front of Neyland Stadium from Middle Way Drive to Gate 10 is prohibited starting four hours before kickoff and continuing until the game is over.
All items, including purses, are subject to search at the gates. UT reserves the right to examine the contents of any container brought into the stadium. To protect the safety of our fans, players, officials and staff, the following items are prohibited. Please do not attempt to bring these or similar articles in the stadium. Items will not be stored at the gate and/or stadium and cannot be retrieved after the game.
- Alcoholic beverages
- Cans, bottles, coolers
- Outside food, snacks, beverages
- Radios without headsets
- Open umbrellas
- Video cameras
- Stadium seats with arms
- Bags or parcels, including backpacks and purses, larger than 12″x12″x12″
- Weapons
- Artificial noisemakers
Permissible Items
The following items are permitted inside Neyland Stadium:
- Cell phones
- Binoculars
- Radios with headsets
- Diaper bags when accompanied by an infant
- Limited use of cameras. Game action may not be filmed. Consideration of other spectators is expected.
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C O N T A C T :
Charles Primm (865-974-5180, charles.primm@tennessee.edu)