Special event parking is available after 4:00 p.m. in the G10 garage next to the arena, the Andy Holt Tower garage across the street, and many other faculty/staff lots on the main campus and just north across Cumberland Ave in Fort Sanders.

To avoid traffic congestion in the heart of campus, concertgoers can park on the agriculture campus and ride a shuttle to the arena. Shuttle service will begin at 6:00 p.m. and continue until the show starts, and will resume at the end of the concert. The parking fee is $10 on campus and includes shuttle service to and from the agriculture campus.

Members of the campus community should be aware that a surge in traffic is expected that afternoon and will continue until the start of the concert. University students and employees leaving campus Friday afternoon are encouraged to avoid Lake Loudoun Blvd. and use either Joe Johnson Drive or Cumberland Ave. to exit campus.

Concertgoers are not allowed to bring backpacks or large bags into the arena. Video cameras or unauthorized recording devices will not be allowed into the concert.

For more information, call the arena management office at 974-0953.

The first regular season home game for the men is Friday, November 11, against UNC Greensboro. The Lady Vols begin their regular season home schedule against Pepperdine University on November 13.

Many of the same security measures from last year remain in place:

• For men’s games, gates will open ninety minutes before tipoff.
• For women’s games, gates will open sixty minutes before tipoff.
• Everyone, regardless of age, must have a ticket in order to enter the arena.
• Students are required to enter the gates off the west ramp.
• Artificial noisemakers are not allowed.
• No signage larger than 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches.
• Possession or use of alcohol is prohibited.
• Smoking is not allowed inside the arena.
• Video recording devices and professional-grade cameras are not permitted.
• Radios with headphones, other small electronic devices and diaper bags accompanying infants are permitted.
• All items are subject to search or inspection, and hand-held metal detectors may be used.

This year, bags larger than twelve inches by twelve inches are prohibited in the arena. This is the standard in use by a growing number of collegiate sports facilities. Items larger than this standard size, as well as other prohibited items, cannot be stored at any gate. To assist fans, boxes demonstrating the proper bag size are at arena gates.

Basketball fans with permits can park in designated lots adjacent to the arena. Free parking is available on the agriculture campus with complimetnary shuttle service to the arena.

Normally, the section of Phillip Fulmer Way from Cumberland Avenue to Andy Holt Avenue runs one way southbound. Once the regular season commences, traffic on that section of Phillip Fulmer Way temporarily will be reversed, running one way northbound to Cumberland Avenue, to assist with post-game traffic. The section of Phillip Fulmer Way in front of the arena, between Lake Loudoun Boulevard and the G-10 garage, will close fifteen minutes before tipoff and remain closed until the conclusion of the game.

For more information about Thompson-Boling Arena and other athletics facilities, visit http://www.utsports.com/facilities/index.html.

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C O N T A C T :

Jeff Maples (865-974-3061, maples@utk.edu)

Brian Browning (865-974-3061, brian-browning@utk.edu)

Charles Primm (865-974-5180, primmc@utk.edu)

Michael Cate, a UT facilities planning associate architect, said that because the arena is so massive, the designer’s intent was to break up the large surfaces with graphics and letters to give the arena more visual interest, identity and human scale.

“I believe they were successful on all counts,” Cate said. “We looked at many options to enhance the arena exterior. The graphic solution was inexpensive and also brought identity to the arena.”

Thompson-Boling Arena was named for the late B. Ray Thompson and former UT President Dr. Edward J. Boling. In the fall of 2008, the UT Athletics Department unveiled Phase 1 of a two-phase renovation project for the arena, the first major renovation since it opened in 1987. The $15 million project included new seats for the entire arena, a center-hung scoreboard and concourse refurbishments, such as graphics and other amenities. It also included new luxury suites and loge seating.

With all the enhancements to the interior of the basketball arena, said Arena Director Tim Reese, it is only suiting the exterior receive the same treatment. “I think the new logo adds a new exciting dimension to the exterior of the building that relates to all the new upgrades that have occurred inside,” said Reese.

Cate said the main comment he hears from people about the graphic logo is “why UT did not do this update 20 years ago.”

The designer of the new logo also developed a similar logo for UT Basketball used in the Pratt Pavilion.