UT Approved To Buy Popular Players Burger Joint

By Jordan Schraeder in 40 Acres on February 8, 2012 at 5:16 pm | 10 Comments

A greasy burger spot may give way to another UT academic building before too long.

At a meeting at UT-San Antonio today, the UT System Board of Regents unanimously authorized UT-Austin to purchase popular burger joint Players, located at the corner of Guadalupe and West MLK, right behind the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center.

According to President Bill Powers, this southwestern tract of land “will be important for advancement of our programs.”

Player’s is owned by Carlos Oliveira and Eddie Hempe, both UT graduates, and the 24-hour restaurant has been serving up late-night “drunk food” to Longhorns since 1981. According to the Players Yelp page, the most popular entrees on the menu include greasy burgers, onion rings, and fried mushrooms.

The restaurant’s relationship to UT has never been simple, despite being named in tribute to UT sports and having a picture of the Tower on its homepage. The University Regents authorized use of eminent domain in 2004, but UT decided to go a different route.

According to Powers, negotiations are ongoing—but UT won’t pay more than fair market value for the land.

The last time we reviewed Players (with several other campus classics last summer), the cooks making our cheeseburger forgot the cheese! Doh.

How about you? Do you have fond memories, or does Players need to go?

Alcalde file photo.

Tags: bill powers, Players, ut regents