In 1920, the University of Tennessee's Athletics Association borrowed money, and UT's trustees voted to build a 3,200-seat concrete grandstand on its new athletic field.

Eighty-five years and about 101,000 seats later, UT still owes money on what is known today as Neyland Stadium.

Last year the UT Athletics Department made $3.9 million in loan repayments on UT's famed venue, and the end of its current payment schedule stretches far into the future — past the 100th anniversary of the first Volunteer football game on the site in 1921.

It currently owes about $36 million on the stadium.

But don't worry, the payments aren't on that original loan.

Instead, they are for expansions and improvements UT has made to Neyland over the years, a particularly frequent occurrence since the early 1960s.

"Eighty-four years and we're still paying," said Bill Myers, chief financial officer for the athletics department. "It's a house with a lot of additions."

There have been more than a dozen expansions of Neyland since the original stands were built, and UT is planning a five-phase, $107 million improvement of the stadium — including major infrastructure overhauls — over the next several years.

UT currently owes on projects dating back to 1980, the year it replaced the wooden bleachers in the north end zone with a 16,944-seat addition.

That turned Neyland from a horseshoe-shaped stadium into its current bowl configuration.

Other projects it has completed since then are the upper deck of the north end and the skyboxes on both the east and west sides of the stadium.

UT's athletics department, which brings in about $65 million a year, pays for its facilities with its revenues and gifts from donors.

The revenue sources include everything from ticket and concession sales to broadcasting contracts to the sale of UT-branded products ranging from clothing to caskets and ice cream.

In a general sense, UT does the same thing most people do when they build a house or add to it: The athletics department borrows the money and then pays it off over time.

In UT's case, the borrowed money comes from bonds issued by the Tennessee State School Bond Authority, after the UT Board of Trustees and the state approve a project.

That means UT athletics owes money to the state instead of a bank or private firm.

Sometimes the loans are out there for a surprisingly long time.

UT, for example, paid off the loans for the construction on the south stadium upper deck projects last year. Those dated from 1972 and 1976.

Myers said the reason that loan repayments sometimes seem drawn out is that the university will occasionally refinance some of its debt and will include athletics department projects in those refinancing packages.

That lengthens the payment period but should reduce the total amount paid.

The original stands at Shields-Watkins Field cost $20,000, according to UT.

The stadium expanded rapidly after Capt. Robert R. Neyland, an ROTC instructor and former U.S. Military Academy player, was named UT's head football coach in 1926.

The first addition was a 3,600-seat grandstand on the east side of the field in 1926, and in the 1930s a series of expansions raised the seating capacity to 31,390.

Nathan W. Dougherty, a UT engineering professor and dean and an All-Southern football player, helped plan the early expansions.

In 1962, the year it was dedicated as Neyland Stadium, the facility underwent the first of what has been a continuing series of additions. That continued until 2000 with the east skyboxes.

The current plan is unusual in that it reduces the total number of seats overall from the current 104,079 to about 101,000, due to the construction of about 2,000 club seats and related facilities.

The financing on the new renovations will be a little different, too.

"We're changing our model a little bit in that we are trying to raise some private funds in advance," said UT Athletics Director Mike Hamilton, "and also have some revenue against (the) bonds."

Fans who want club seats have been asked to make an upfront minimum gift of $30,000 or $50,000, depending on where the seats are, as well as a significant annual contribution.

Hamilton said UT will still have to take out some bond debt but that the club seating money will be applied to the project.

Currently UT's payment schedule on Neyland runs until 2026, when it pays off the 1996 north end upper deck.

It's not clear yet how much, or how long, the payments will be on the latest renovation.

Theoretically, if UT didn't take on any more long-term debt, it wouldn't owe anything on the stadium in 2026.

The reality is something else.

Hamilton said "more than likely" UT would always be paying for some project at the stadium.

"Whoever the athletic director is 25 years from now is going to probably be looking at what has to be done to maintain the viability of the stadium for the long haul, just as I'm doing today," Hamilton said.

Myers can foresee it.

"Twenty years from now and good Lord willing I'm still here, we'll probably be spending money somewhere," he said.

Randy Kenner may be reached at 865-342-6305.