The University of Tennessee Athletic Department on Tuesday will unveil what is expected to be a roughly $100 million master plan to renovate Neyland Stadium at the UT Board of Trustees meeting.

"The master plan will prepare Neyland Stadium for the next 75 years while maintaining the collegiate integrity of the stadium and recognizing the heritage of Tennessee football in a fiscally responsible manner," UT Athletic Director Mike Hamilton wrote in a Nov. 3 letter to donors of the program.

UT President John Petersen said today that the plan involves about $100 million and would be done in five phases.

The initial part, having to do with safety and configuration issues, will be presented to the board for approval, Petersen said.

The progress of the plan will depend on the how quickly private funding pours in, he said.

The renovation will be done in a manner that will solve the stadium's problems for decades instead of being a short-term fix.

"You want to have a long-term plan so that everything makes sense — not just today, but in the future," he said.

Hamilton and a team of consultants spent part of last summer touring the country visiting stadiums, home to both professional and collegiate teams, which had been recently renovated.

The bills at those locations ranged from $70 million at Purdue University to nearly $300 million to renovate Lambeau Field, the home of the Green Bay Packers.

UT officials have been playing close to the vest with the plan and did not include it in the packet of material that usually goes to the trustees prior to a board meeting.

Hamilton indicated in an interview last summer that restrooms, concessions and wider concourses are top priorities.

But he also indicated that UT might be looking at some type of club seating in the stadium as well as a possible renovation of the exterior of Neyland Stadium.

The towering stadium, which started life as Shields-Watkins Field in 1921, has 104,079 seats and is the third largest in the country. Its faAade is mainly metal girders, though it also features a multi-story building underneath both the south and east stands that house some UT offices, including the school's highly regarded anthropology department.

UT is already elbow deep in renovations at Neyland and had spent at least $936,000 as of July on renovations of the UT football locker room, painting, restroom renovations and paying architects working on the master plan process.

Renovations aren't cheap.

According to an article this summer, the University of Wisconsin was paying $110 million to upgrade its Camp Randall Stadium, and Ohio State spent $194 million to renovate its stadium.

Petersen said the stadium renovations would positively impact Knoxville's economy.

"At the end of the day, we want to have a program where people want to come and also have a self-sustaining athletic department," he said.

Randy Kenner may be reached at 865-342-6305. Lola Alapo may be reached at 865-342-6376.