With Razorbacks Set to Leave War Memorial, Stadium Looks to Reinvent

The iconic east facade of War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. The stadium is now run by the state parks department. (Shutterstock)

When the Arkansas Razorbacks take the field against Arkansas State on Sept. 6, War Memorial Stadium will be in its 77th year, just short of America’s human life expectancy.

And with no further guarantee of any UA football games, the storied stadium faces either decline or reinvention as a venue for soccer, music and community events.

War Memorial was the Razorbacks’ favored home field for nearly four decades, and the setting for some of the Hogs’ most glorious moments.

Those included the “Miracle on Markham” comeback to beat Louisiana State University in 2002 and a dominant 31-6 victory over No. 2 Texas A&M in 1975 that sent longtime coach Frank Broyles to his last Cotton Bowl win. (See sidebar)

But a decades-long debate over War Memorial’s significance in the UA program is essentially over. For years, Little Rock fans and alumni held sway by arguing that the centrally located capital city should host at least a few games each year, even after Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville surpassed War Memorial in seating, luxury and prestige.

“I think the stadium is a significant piece of the culture of the state, and particularly central Arkansas,” said Little Rock attorney Kevin A. Crass, chair of the War Memorial Stadium Commission. “When I started going to games in the late 1960s, there were more Razorback games played in Little Rock than there were in Fayetteville, for a lot of reasons.”

War Memorial had more seats for many years and pioneered artificial turf in Arkansas. It also had lights, allowing night games. The Fayetteville venue didn’t put up lights until 1990.

“We had 10,000 more seats, Fayetteville was hard to get to, and it didn’t have a lot of hotels,” Crass said. So for a generation or two, fans associated UA football with War Memorial.

Designed in the Art Deco style by Burks & Anderson of Little Rock and particularly H. Ray Burks, the stadium went up in 1947 after a state appropriation of $1.2 million ($17.2 million in today’s money). It hosted its first game on Sept. 18, 1948, before a crowd of 28,000 that nearly filled the original capacity of 31,075 seats. The Hogs beat Abilene Christian, 40-6.

Over the years, renovations increased capacity to nearly 55,000.

Maurice “Footsie” Britt, a former UA and Detroit Lions star who lost an arm and won a Medal of Honor in 1944, dedicated the stadium as a “living memorial” to the veterans and fallen heroes of the two World Wars. Britt went on to become a lieutenant governor of Arkansas.

The Shift to Fayetteville

Fans from central, south and even northeast Arkansas may find it hard to envision a Hogless War Memorial, but the reality has been dawning for a while.

The UA started significantly reducing Little Rock dates in 2013, according to Professor Aaron D. Horton of Alabama State University, author of the Encyclopedia of Arkansas’ entry on War Memorial Stadium. An agreement that year meant that the Hogs would play only one Little Rock game per year through 2018.

That year, another deal guaranteed War Memorial one Razorback game every other year until 2024.

The Hogs ended a seven-decade policy of never playing an in-state football opponent when they opened the 2024 season in Little Rock with a 70-0 victory over the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

“I was surprised that [UA-Pine Bluff] was the first Arkansas game against an in-state opponent in something like 77 years,” Horton said. “A lot of people, I gather from some articles I’ve read, are hinging their hopes on maybe starting up a regular series with Arkansas State. That might be an attraction for War Memorial, but I think there’s a division between appreciating the memories and wanting to move on. It would be interesting to survey Arkansans about their opinion on whether Arkansas should continue to play games” at War Memorial.

No Little Rock games are on the Razorbacks’ 2026 football schedule.

September’s match will be the Razorbacks’ first against Arkansas State, and Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman said at the Southeastern Conference media event last week that he’s not eager for a lasting in-state rivalry.

“If we’re going to play Arkansas State, I want to play them at home,” Pittman said. “Right now, under contract we’re in our last year at Little Rock.”

Writing for SI.com, longtime sportscaster and columnist Andy Hodges said that Pittman sees no advantage in taking a road trip to Jonesboro “that’s longer than the wasted trip to play in dilapidated War Memorial Stadium.”

Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium was Arkansas’ premier football palace even before a $160 million renovation in 2018 provided a total capacity of 76,212. The makeover came with a new gameday locker room and coaches’ offices, a field-level club and three levels of premium suites and two levels of club seats, among other amenities.

Following the Money

War Memorial can’t really compete with all that, though many would balk at calling it dilapidated.

The bigger question is money, said Crass, who spoke in his role as commission chair, not as a member of the UA board of trustees.

War Memorial hasn’t generated enough revenue to pay for its upkeep for years, he said.

“That was one of the reasons Governor [Asa] Hutchinson moved it to Parks & Tourism.” Hutchinson handed off leadership of the stadium in 2017 from the War Memorial Stadium Commission to the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage & Tourism. ADPHT now oversees the stadium’s six-person staff, with the commission in an advisory role.

“The stadium just doesn’t have the events to cover its expenses,” Crass said, adding that, at least for now, he doesn’t see the Arkansas State matchup becoming a regular event. “I do think and hope that there will be future Little Rock games, whether it’s Arkansas State or somebody else. But as you know, college athletics generally and football in particular have come down to finances. It’s important for the university to maximize revenue opportunities, and it’s just a matter of math that they don’t have as much revenue generated from games in Little Rock.”

Coaches’ salaries run into the millions, “and now we’re sharing up to $20 million in revenue with players,” Crass said. “It just puts an extreme pressure on the revenue side of the finances. I do think there will be opportunities for the Razorbacks to play a game down here, but maybe not every year.”

The stadium’s total operating revenue was $1.63 million for fiscal 2025, down from $1.72 million in fiscal 2024. Total expenses were $1.95 million in 2025, down from $2.72 million. Those numbers are from April Kiser, deputy chief of communications for the ADPHT. Fiscal 2023 operating revenue was $1.29 million against expenses of $2.28 million.

Salt and Soccer

Soccer, lacrosse, rugby and football are some of the sports War Memorial can accommodate, Kiser said. “The stadium is available for a wide variety of uses, including college and high school sporting events, nonprofit walks, concerts, charity events, movie nights, crawfish boils, beer festivals and band competitions,” Kiser said.

Crass and Kiser hope to attract more concerts to War Memorial, which once hosted shows by the Rolling Stones, the Eagles, Elton John and Billy Joel. But no big music acts have booked the stadium since Guns N’ Roses drew 25,000 fans in 2017. “One of the largest challenges is covering the field to ensure it is not damaged while setting up a stage for a large show like that,” Kiser said.

Over the past quarter-century, 18,000-seat Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock has been the region’s top venue for concerts.

War Memorial suffered another recent loss when Bryant and Benton high schools announced they were taking their rivalry, the annual Salt Bowl, back home from Little Rock. War Memorial had hosted the game for two decades, drawing crowds of 20,000 and more.

In a March 19 statement, the Bryant School District said that the Bryant and Benton schools “deeply appreciate the years of support from War Memorial Stadium and the experience” it provided. But “after listening to families and considering the future,” the Salt Bowl plans to return to Saline County, with the game to be played at Benton on Aug. 29. Bryant will host next year, etc.

Kiser said the Salt Bowl generated about $70,000 in revenue each year against expenses of $40,000 to $50,000. The stadium hosts about 250 to 280 small non-football events each year, she said.

On the up side, War Memorial is a happy home for Little Rock’s soccer team, the Rangers, according to Jonathan Wardlaw, the team’s president and general manager. He said the team has only two complaints about the stadium: It’s not quite wide enough to provide the size pitch that would allow the team to move to a higher league, and War Memorial doesn’t provide any cut of concession proceeds.

“We’ve had a pleasant experience there in the soccer world,” Wardlaw told Arkansas Business. “We currently play eight to 10 home games [in a summertime season]. For a playoff game, we might get close to 5,000 people out to the stadium. If it’s just a Wednesday night game in the middle of June, we might get 1,500 or 2,000 people.”

Whatever the future holds for War Memorial, the place will always hold a special majesty for older Razorback fans, Crass said. “Obviously, we’ve had magical wins in both home stadiums, but it seems that Little Rock has had its fair share of dramatic wins and memorable fan experiences,” he said.

“I think about LSU and the miracles on Markham, but I also went to a game there [in September 1974] when we beat Southern Cal,” Crass said. “I’ve been to games where we beat Texas. Everybody seems to have their favorite memory.”