By the Numbers
Top Crowds
* Largest attendance for an AAC game in league history. Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium Records
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Our Football Future | Google Map of Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium | Billy J. Murphy Complex
The University of Memphis football program is fortunate to have one of the finest facilities in the nation in which to play its home games. Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, “built by the citizens of Memphis,” is a memorial to the veterans of World War I, World War II and the Korean War. The 58,325-seat facility, built in 1965 at a cost of $3.7 million by the City of Memphis, has been operated by the Spectra Venue Management since 2011.
The Tigers inaugurated the stadium in the fall of 1965 and, in 56 years, have compiled a 184-145-7 record at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. The stadium features an AstroTurf® playing surface, Musco sports lights, multiple locker and dressing rooms, a football recruiting lounge, sky-suites and a four-level press box that includes a VIP stadium club. The playing surface, which had been natural grass through 2004, was replaced with FieldTurf prior to the 2005 campaign. In 2012, the surface changed to AstroTurf®.
More Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium renovations came in 2019 with video-scoreboard system improvements in the north and south end zones. The $2.6 million upgrade is centered around replacements of both videoboards to Daktronics products. While the videoboards remain the same size, the video components are a higher quality and better resolution than the previous system. These boards were designed and built by Daktronics of Brookings, S.D., the world’s industry leader in electronic scoreboards, programmable display systems and large-screen video displays.
Currently, the City of Memphis has an ongoing project with Crown Castle to develop and install a multi-million dollar Distributed Antennae System (DAS) to enhance the cellular service in and around the stadium. Crown Castle designed the DAS system to support 4G LTE carriers, with the expansion capacity to a 5G service signal. The project started in the spring of 2019, and was operational for the 2019 football season.
In 2018, renovations included the expansion of the home locker room in the south end zone. The transformation turned the previous space into a 6,000-square-foot, first-class area with state-of-the-art technology, spacious lockers and expanded rooms for athletic training and coaches’ locker rooms. The 100-plus lockers have leather seats and 32-inch digital displays with players’ pictures, numbers and hometowns. The locker room was part of a $2.5 million renovation project approved by the City Council. Additionally, the stadium received a new JBL Gold Series sound system by Daktronics to greatly enhance the customer experience. Auxiliary audio components in the stadium club and suites were also replaced.
In the stadium's 2016 makeover, a total of 5,596 chairback seats were added and reduced the stadium’s capacity to 58,325. The new 22-inch wide chairback seats replaced the 19-inch wide chairbacks and 15-inch wide bleacher seating on the lower portion of the east and west sidelines. Other 2016 upgrades included lighting, scoreboard and the adjacent Pipkin Building, all improving the Memphis gameday experience.
The centerpiece of the 2012 renovations was a $2.5 million video scoreboard and sound system. A generous donation provided by FedEx to the University paved the way for the video board/sound system upgrades. The south end zone features a 98’x48’ video board with a sound system located on the sides. The scoreboard’s speakers and crown extend the structure’s size to 106’x58’. The north end zone was updated with an LED board that is 38’x10’.
The stadium underwent several aesthetic changes from 2005-11 that made the stadium look more like the “Home of the Tigers.”
Prior to the 2006 season, Jim McDonald of McDonald Outdoor provided several large photo wraps at the stadium’s entrances to welcome Tigers fans. Graphics wraps were unveiled around the stadium’s interior in 2008, and a face-lift project for the stadium’s restrooms on the lower concourse was completed.
Renovations in 2009 and 2013 brought the stadium into compliance with ADA specifications.
In the spring of 2010, the Memphis City Council approved a $15.7 million capital improvements budget to upgrade the grounds surrounding the stadium. Included in the renovations was the construction of a grand entrance off East Parkway named “Tiger Lane” in honor of the facility’s longest tenant. “Tiger Lane” officially opened Sept. 18, 2010, when Memphis hosted Middle Tennessee.
In December of 1983, City of Memphis officials named the playing surface Rex Dockery Field in honor of the late Tigers coach who was killed in a plane crash. In 2015, the University honored Dockery with a field re-dedication ceremony. In attendance were the families of the four individuals who lost their lives, and a commemorative plaque was unveiled at the Tiger Lane entrance to the stadium.
The largest crowd to witness a Tigers game at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium was the record-setting 65,885 that attended Memphis’ 1996 stunning 21-17 upset of No. 6 Tennessee.
The largest crowd for a conference game at the stadium came in 2019 on a magical weekend in an amazing season. The Tigers hosted No. 15/14 SMU before an American Athletic Conference record crowd of 59,506 and a prime-time national ABC television audience, and Memphis posted a thrilling 54-48 victory over the Mustangs. The day (Nov. 2, 2019) began with a wild scene in downtown Memphis as ESPN’s wildly-popular college football show, GameDay, invaded Beale Street. Hundreds of Tigers fans filled the city’s most well-known thoroughfare to show the nation their tremendous support of Memphis Football.
A month later (Dec. 7), Memphis hosted the first conference championship game in stadium history when the Tigers faced Cincinnati for The American crown. Memphis won the title with a 29-24 come-from-behind win over the Bearcats.
In its 55-year history, Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium has been home to several professional teams: the World Football League’s Memphis Grizzlies, the North American Soccer League’s Memphis Rogues, the USFL’s Memphis Showboats, the XFL’s Memphis Maniax, the NFL’s Tennessee Oilers, the CFL’s Memphis Mad Dogs and the AAF’s Memphis Express.
Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium Attendance
*** Stadium capacity lowered due to COVID restrictions
** Highest total of fans in a season in program history
* Highest single-game average in program history
