Upon completion of the 1995 football season, the UT Athletics Department faced an important football facility decision.
The artificial turf in Memorial Stadium was well worn and required replacement. Football coaches and athletics administrators alike considered a natural
grass playing surface, as players are less prone to injuries, turf burns and other maladies associated with artificial turf.
UT's decision to install a state of the art Prescription Athletic Turf (PAT) provided UT's football squad one of the finest
natural grass playing surfaces in the nation. But the installation also provided UT's maintenance staff the flexibility to ensure future field
alterations which would be approved later by the UT System Board of Regents.
Following the 1998 football season, the track will be removed from the stadium. The new Mike A. Myers Stadium and Soccer Field is due to open at the same time.
The top surface of the PAT field in Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium will be removed and lowered by 6 feet. The complex drainage and watering system
which currently exists below the surface will be maintained for installation of the new field. The system is computerized and monitored daily by UT
officials and those from the Motz Group of Cincinnati, which installed the turf. The computer system ensures that the field is never too dry or too
muddy.
Once the playing surface is lowered, construction will begin on 1,600 new seats, located between the goal lines and extending from the existing west
and east grandstands of Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. These rows (5 on the west and 4 on the east) will be extended inward toward the playing field, creating a more intimate stadium
setting. Patrons sitting in lower level seats will no longer have their view of the game obstructed by the team bench areas.
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