were also added for a total of 790 new seats, bringing the capacity of Rice–Eccles Stadium to 45,807 (from 45,017). There will still be space for standing room behind the new row of bleachers. In June 2010, the U of U accepted an invitation to join the Pacific-10 Conference (which changed its name to the Pac-12 Conference shortly after the Utah Utes and the Colorado Buffaloes joined) and began playing in the conference during 2011–2012 season. It is expected that Rice–Eccles Stadium is to be expanded and the locker room facilities upgraded. This claim was furthered when both KSL.com and the Deseret News reported that the university was seriously considering expanding the stadium by at least 10,000 seats, which brings the expected capacity to 51,444. It was announced in 2019 to demolish the South End Zone and rebuild to add 6,000 more seats, high-end suites, locker rooms, offices, terrace seating, and a restaurant for $80 million; a major donor was the Kendall Garff Family of ($17.5 million) and the area was named after him (Ken Garff Red Zone). Construction on the South End Zone was completed on 12 Aug 2021 and opened to the public. The total seat increase was 5,637 when construction was completed. The Ken Garff Red Zone features new home and visiting locker rooms, sports medicine facilities and hospitality areas, the University Club restaurant, Diglisic Lounge, Layton Field Club, and various premium seating options, including suites, loge boxes, ledge, club, and premium terrace seating as well as additional bleacher seating. Utah’s new locker room is 5,300 square feet with 90 lockers. It features a one-of-a-kind locker design with hidden storage, wireless charging, and a locking box for athletes. Features Olympic Cauldron Park Immediately south of the stadium was the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park, which contained a 2002 Winter Olympic museum, the Olympic cauldron, and other memorabilia from the games. Only the cauldron remains at the stadium today; the museum and other memorabilia have all since been removed. Hoberman Arch was located until its removal in October 2014. The cauldron has undergone refurbishment and was relocated to a new Olympic plaza at the Southwest corner outside the stadium, just west of the South Endzone expansion. Playing surface Since 2002, the playing field at Rice–Eccles Stadium has been FieldTurf, a next-generation infilled synthetic turf, which was most recently replaced in 2015. When the stadium reopened in 1998,