Been inside the stadium. Almost got arrested.
GREAT STORY
One of our hobbies is visiting D1 football stadiums. Circa 2007, Mrs. Herk, our son, and his soon to be wife are driving to North Carolina. We stay all night in Knoxville. It's Easter morning and before leaving town we go to Neyland Stadium. Don't ask why, but one of our games is to drive under the structure. We're right by a gate and I notice a chain is loose.
I jump out of the car and sure as heck I can get in. The others follow and we all head down the steps. Those 3 jump the fence and start wondering around on the 50 yard line.
Suddenly, I hear yelling. I look up and see not 1, but 2 squad cars with lights rolling and 4 cops running down the stairs. I swear this is true, I walk over to the base of the stairs and as the first cop reaches me I say, "We do this all over the country. You're the first sumbitch to ever throw us out. Mind if I get a picture?" 😊
The cop chuckles and says, "Yeah, sure, you can have a picture." I asked, "Can you move over here so I can get the scoreboard behind you?" He moved and we both chuckled.
Then he says, "There are motion detectors in the stadium and for some reason they set off the alarms in every building. We thought we were under attack from terrorists!" He went on to say they find people like us in the stadium every now and then and it wasn't a big deal, but we still get a kick out of reliving that day.
By the way, I've seen nothing like Neyland Stadium when standing on the field. It is the deepest stadium floor ever. Just amazing how high the stands appear. It must be an incredible place to play. Certainly worth visiting.