In 1996, U of U athletic director Chris Hill announced plans to renovate Rice Stadium into a new facility that would be up to Olympic standards.

In 2014, a row of bleachers were been added in the standing room areas on the east, west and north sections of Rice–Eccles Stadium.

[13] This claim was furthered when both KSL.com[14] and the Deseret News[15] 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 features a one-of-a-kind locker design with hidden storage, wireless charging, and a locking box for athletes.

[19] 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.

A full natural grass was installed in 2000 for two seasons, then was covered by asphalt blacktop for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics.

To host the ceremonies, the grass field was paved over with asphalt and a stage was constructed, scoreboards were removed, flags and Olympic livery were installed, temporary seating was brought in (allowing more than 50,000 spectators), and the 2002 Olympic cauldron was installed atop the southern bleachers.

Through broadcasts from the stadium, an estimated 3.5 billion people worldwide watched the Opening and Closing Ceremonies on television.

[23] During the 2034 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, the stadium is expected to serve as the venue for the Opening and Closing ceremonies.

[25] The Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football (AAF) played at Rice–Eccles Stadium during the league's lone season in 2019.

The series then stopped by every year the week before the Monster Energy Supercross championship took place in the same stadium.