Rice-Eccles is 'the place' for Utes

From football, baseball and basketball to soccer, hockey and motor sports, millions of spectators are drawn annually to Utah's sporting events. However, casual observers may not have attended home games for Utah's many sports teams. The Deseret Morning News will be running an ongoing series of reports looking at many of the state's major sporting events, summarizing the spectator experience as to venue, atmosphere and cost.

Welcome to Rice-Eccles Stadium, home of the University of Utah football team and site of constant change.

Thanks to a $50 million expansion several years ago and a Ute football team looking to make outright conference championships an annual expectation rather than a once-in-a-generation experience, fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium say "This is the place" when it comes to local college football.

Head coach Urban Meyer's recent makeover of the team mirrors what has happened at the Utes' home — it's just that the changes have a lengthier history.

Ute Stadium was built in 1927 on the same east-bench location that Rice-Eccles now sits, overlooking Salt Lake City and the Great Salt Lake and offering an up-close view of the Wasatch Front. The stadium was renovated and renamed in 1972, when Robert L. Rice donated $1 million for AstroTurf, improved lighting and the old east-side Scholarship Box. Later, the south end zone section was added in 1982.

The George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation initiated the massive 1997 remodeling effort, with its $10 million gift followed by university funds, athletics department bonding and contributions from the Salt Lake Olympic Committee to total $50 million.

Removing everything but the south-end section, the 10-month project ended in time for the 1998 season, providing the 2002 Winter Olympics a massive venue for its opening and closing ceremonies as well as the U. with a spectacular concrete-steel-and-glass edifice that has become a collegiate-football gem.

The additions and amendments didn't stop there. Larry H. and Gail Miller donated $1.6 million for the massive video-display scoreboard in 2003. And even the playing surface has gone through its own evolution — from AstroTurf to Sports Grass (1995-1999) to natural grass (2000-2001) to the near-natural FieldTurf in place since 2002.

TEAM: University of Utah football team, the 2003 Mountain West Conference champion and preseason pick to successfully defend its crown.

WEB SITE: www.utahutes.com