Since being admitted to NCAA’s PAC-12 Conference in 2011, the athletics program at the University of Utah has been steadily upgrading facilities to better compete with other top-tier universities. The latest facility to get an upgrade is U of U’s Rice-Eccles Stadium, the Utes’ home football field and a key venue for concerts and other large-scale events. It also hosted the opening and closing ceremonies during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Utah.
A $17.9-million donation from the philanthropic Garff family helped launch an $80-million expansion at the south end of the stadium, to be known as the Ken Garff Performance Zone. “This expansion at the south end will not just add more seats, but it also will be the kind of seating and amenities you see in other Class A collegiate football programs and even professional programs,” says Brent Tippets, a principal with Salt Lake City-based VCBO Architecture and the lead design principal for the project. VCBO partnered with Populous of Kansas City, Mo., on the project.