Students will have a section of their own with thousands of bleacher seats at the Robert and Janet Vackar Stadium as part of an estimated $35 million upgrade in preparation for the inaugural football season in 2025.
The UTRGV Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced in a Sept. 25 news release that the proposed upgrades include lowering the field, adding turf, new luxury seating and elevators in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Construction of new bleachers by the south end zone will raise the capacity of Vackar Stadium to about 12,000.
Chasse Conque, vice president and director of Athletics, said the department knew the Vackar Stadium was a great facility “from day one.”
“It was a great soccer stadium,” Conque said. “But there were some things we knew we were gonna need to address to make it a great Division I college football stadium.”
Vackar Stadium was acquired from the City of Edinburg after its previous tenant, the RGV FC Toros, folded. The stadium was then known as H-E-B Park.
“[Expanding the capacity was] something we knew was really important because the current capacity is 9,700,” Conque said. “So, we have to modify some things. … There was [also] some things we needed to do from an [ADA] compliance standpoint.”
The department has, over the last two years, committed $160 million in facility upgrades for all of its athletic programs.
PHOTO COURTESY UTRGV ATHLETICS
The decision to expand the stadium also comes in light of Athletics’ announcement that season ticket deposits for the inaugural 2025 season were sold out.
New bleachers will be built and used for the student section at Vackar Stadium.
Conque said there will be seven dedicated student sections at Vackar Stadium, totaling 3,000 seats or 25% of the stadium’s capacity.
“That was important for us to keep that percentage high,” he said. “… If [the visitors] are in the red zone and we’re trying to make a goal line stand, you think about the environment our students will be able to create, along with our marching band.”
UTRGV Football head coach Travis Bush said it was “pretty cool” that the stadium is getting an upgrade.
“It’s gonna create a game-day atmosphere that you’re not gonna see [elsewhere] at the FCS level,” Bush said. “[I look forward to] being a part of that game-day atmosphere and the history that’s gonna be made down here.”
Conque said working on player facilities for both the Vaqueros and the visiting teams will be part of this upgrade. He also said having pre-existing professional facilities makes these upgrades “easy.”
“The locker room spaces there are very nice, but they were built for soccer,” Conque said. “Part of the improvements we’re making are for facilities for our visiting teams so they can accommodate a full football team as well as home [team] facilities.”
He said a large donation from Robert and Janet Vackar, the namesake of the stadium, was largely what allowed the department to invest in the facility upgrades.
The remainder of the funds for the upgrades come from the departments’ own revenue, according to Jonah Goldberg, senior associate athletic director for Communications and Championships.
“The unbelievable generosity of Bob and Janet Vackar … allowed us to make some investments out there,” Conque said. “That will not only benefit our football program, but the community–the university community and certainly the student experience.”
Construction to these upgrades has yet to begin. However, Athletics is already looking at contractors and hopes to have the facilities ready for kickoff in Fall 2025.
