Prior to the redevelopment, the most recent major improvement was the $32.9 million north end zone expansion, which was completed in 1999. The formation of the Bernard C. Richardson Zone raised Kyle Field’s capacity to 82,589. “The Zone” opened at full capacity for the first time for the annual Texas A&M-Texas grudge match in 1999 and a then state-record football crowd of 86,128 watched the Aggies tally a hard-fought 20-16 victory over the archrival Longhorns. The stadium record was broken six times since the 1999 game and stood at 90,079 (9-6 win over Nebraska in 2010) prior to the redevelopment.
Kyle Field was named for Edwin Jackson Kyle, who served as Texas A&M’s dean of agriculture and athletic council president. Kyle donated a 400 x 400-foot area of the southern edge of campus that had been assigned to him for horticultural experiments.
The permanent seating on the east and west sides of Kyle Field were added in 1927 and the horseshoe was completed in 1929. The stadium was expanded in 1967 to include two decks of grandstands, and the third decks were added to the east and west sides in 1980. The Aggies played on grass through the 1960s, but A&M became one of the many schools that switched to artificial turf in the early 1970s. Grass returned to Kyle Field in 1996 and the Aggies currently play on grass.