Designed by a Fayetteville architecture firm, the facility was opened in 2000 and dedicated on February 12 of the same year. During the first year (2000) the facility hosted the Tyson Invitational, a meet on the USATF Golden Spike Tour (now the VISA Championship Series), the Southeastern Conference Championships, and the NCAA Indoor Championships. Since that time the facility has been the annual host of the Tyson Invitational and has been the host the NCAA Indoor Championships every year until 2009. Due to Arkansas's successful bid to host the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Championships, the Indoor Championships were awarded to Texas A&M so that Arkansas would not host both the indoor and outdoor national championships in the same year. The University of Arkansas resumed hosting in 2010 and was the event site in 2011, 2013 and 2015.