The University of Tennessee, Knoxville's Pregame Showcase—the faculty lectures that take place on campus two hours before each home football game—will be on hiatus until Phase II of the new Student Union construction is completed.
UT's College of Arts and Sciences, which has organized the event for 26 years, plans to resume the Pregame Showcase for the 2018 football season.
The Pregame Showcase was held in the Carolyn P. Brown Memorial University Center from 1990 through fall 2014. "The venue was ideal because it was near Neyland Stadium, making it possible for Vol fans to dine at a campus eatery, attend the Pregame Showcase lecture, and still have plenty of time to get to the stadium before kickoff," officials said.
Last year, after the university center was closed and razed to make way for construction of the new Student Union, the Pregame Showcase was moved to McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture in Circle Park.
"Unfortunately, attendance dropped off, with many Pregame Showcase regulars telling us it was too much of a challenge to navigate the congested tailgating areas to get to the lectures," said Lynn Champion, spokeswoman for the College of Arts and Sciences. "Before the University Center went offline, we were thrilled to draw an average of 71 people to each lecture. We look forward to reconnecting with those lecture-goers in a couple years so they can once again hear about the work of our distinguished faculty on game days."