University of Arkansas to Receive $20 Million from Reynolds Foundation for Stadium Renovation

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The expansion and renovation of the University of Arkansas' football stadium has received an unprecedented boost with a $20 million gift from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, UA Athletic Director Frank Broyles announced today.

"This magnificent gift assures that we have a significant part of the total financing for the stadium project and gives us a huge boost toward additional fundraising," Broyles said.

"This is a most generous gift that will forever be remembered as the primary factor that propelled the University of Arkansas football program to a nationally competitive level in terms of seating capacity and architectural design," Broyles said. "We will be better able to compete with other Southeastern Conference schools in recruiting high quality student-athletes to the University of Arkansas.

"Our stadium will be one in which all Razorback fans and players can take pride because it will make a powerful statement to the rest of the country about the quality of our university and the state of Arkansas," Broyles continued. "I am very proud that our stadium will now share the name of such a generous supporter of our football program-one that truly defines the great Razorback spirit."

The stadium will be renamed the "Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium."

The stadium expansion began this fall with multiple goals: an increase in seating capacity initially to 70,000 and eventually to 80,000; addition of an exterior facade to blend architecturally with campus buildings and other athletic facilities such as Bud Walton Arena and Baum Stadium; and complete renovation and expansion of existing stadium fan amenities and accommodations.

Fred W. Smith, chairman of the board of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, said, "All Arkansans and University of Arkansas alumni throughout the world are proud of the Arkansas Razorbacks. This gift recognizes a significant athletic program and the excellence it brings to intercollegiate athletics throughout the country.

"The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is proud to support the University of Arkansas academically and athletically, and congratulates Chancellor White and Coach Broyles on the significant strides the university has made in recent years both in the classroom and on the gridiron," Smith said.

Steven L. Anderson, president of the foundation added, "We chose to give this gift toward the expansion of the stadium because of Mr. Reynolds' love for Razorback football. We felt that this was an appropriate way to honor him in that it will benefit the University's athletic program specifically by helping upgrade the stadium."

This gift is the most generous of a long list of gifts from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to the University of Arkansas’ Fayetteville campus, dating back to 1983 with a gift to the Campaign for Books.

UA Chancellor John White said, "The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation has, over the years, been a great friend to the University in so many ways both to our academic programs and to our athletic program. It is this level of generosity that is helping the University of Arkansas to run-not walk-toward national prominence in our research and academic programs as well as ensuring that our athletics programs compete at the highest levels nationally."

The foundation’s largest gift on the Fayetteville campus until this point was a gift to the University’s College of Business Administration in 1996 to construct and equip the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development.

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation recently supported the School of Architecture by establishing the Steven L. Anderson Chair in Architecture and Urban Studies, in addition to a media center and planning grant, and also has supported the Ralph O. Mott Scholarship in the School of Architecture.

Work on the stadium will be completed in five phases, starting with the expansion and renovation of the east side of the facility, working around to the south, then west, and then north side including the facade, and finalizing with upper deck seating in the south. The stadium, which currently has a capacity of 52,000, will gain initially 18,000 to 20,000 seats and is on schedule to be ready for the 2000 season.

Donald W. Reynolds created the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation in 1954 to provide grants to nonprofit civic, charitable, educational, and health organizations. After Reynolds’ death, the Foundation received from his estate a substantial bequest, which positions it as one of the 30 largest independent foundations in the nation. Focus on the foundation’s capital grants program has been narrowed to the three states in which Reynolds had the greatest interest — Arkansas, Nevada, and Oklahoma.