Read more
Following Baylor’s 57-36 thrashing of Villanova last Sunday, Scott Drew couldn’t wait to compliment the raucous Ferrell Center crowd of 10,284 during his postgame press conference.
The arena was packed, the fans were loud and supportive, and most stayed until the end even though the No. 2 Bears won handily over the No. 6 Wildcats. It was a huge home-court advantage for the unbeaten Bears.
Veteran Villanova coach Jay Wright, who led the Wildcats to national titles in 2016 and 2018, called it a great college basketball atmosphere. And he’s coached games just about everywhere.
“I can’t thank the fans enough for showing out and doing a great job in helping us in the Big 12/Big East Battle,” Drew said. “Fans always make a difference. When they come and they’re loud, they affect it. It helped with the defensive intensity for sure.”
People are also reading…
Drew would love to draw such a high-energy crowd every night.
With the Bears coming off their first national championship and currently ranked No. 1 with a 10-0 record following Saturday’s 78-70 win at Oregon, big waves of fans will likely continue to show up at the Ferrell throughout Big 12 play. Some games like Kansas and Texas will draw more fans than others.
But beginning in 2024, the Bears will have a much better chance to create a great home-court advantage every game.
That’s when they’re projected to move into their new $185-million, 7,000-seat basketball pavilion that will double as a city-run performance venue in the developing Waco riverfront by I-35.
The Baylor Board of Regents is set Monday to approve funding for the Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion. The Waco City Council will vote Tuesday on an agreement to seek $65 million in Tax Increment Financing Zone funding for the pavilion, which is set to break ground in June and be completed by January 2024.
After the win over Villanova, Drew sounded like he was ready to move into the throwback fieldhouse-style facility immediately.
“I know the new pavilion will really help with making that home-court advantage each and every game,” Drew said. “I think everybody in the state realizes bigger isn’t always better. Packed houses are better. When we get the new pavilion, we hope to have this feeling every game.”
When the Baylor football team moved from Floyd Casey Stadium to McLane Stadium in 2014, capacity was downsized from 50,000 seats to 45,140. Baylor can still cram about 50,000 into McLane if the berm is filled, but generally there are plenty of seats to go around.
By moving into the new basketball pavilion, Baylor will automatically increase ticket demand. Though games against powers like Kansas and Villanova would draw 10,000 fans, Baylor will have a much better shot to fill 7,000 seats in less-anticipated games.
The renderings of the new pavilion show why it will be a place Baylor fans will love while becoming a house of horrors for visiting teams.
The seats are packed tight against the floor, which means visiting players will literally feel the home crowd breathing down their necks. And they won’t need rabbit ears to hear nearly everything they say.
If both Drew and Baylor women’s coach Nicki Collen continue to put top 5 teams on the floor, a visit to the pavilion will be a great experience for Baylor players and a suffocating experience for visiting squads.
Of course, Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse is the Big 12’s gold standard for homecourt advantage. With 16,300 fans cramming into the old venue every night, Bill Self’s teams rarely lose a home game.
But Baylor’s new pavilion reminds me most of Oklahoma State’s Gallagher-Iba Arena before it was expanded from 6,381 capacity to 13,611 in 2001.
Gallagher-Iba is still a tough place to play because the stands are so close to the court. But before expansion, it was really claustrophobic for visiting teams.
The tight floor space, a low ceiling that bottled the ear-shattering noise, and Eddie Sutton’s gritty, defensive-oriented teams were a pretty unbeatable combination.
Drew has built a premier men’s basketball team from ashes during his 19 seasons at Baylor. Collen has a chance to enhance an enviable women’s basketball tradition that included three national titles under Kim Mulkey.
Soon they’ll play in a basketball venue that will complement the high-profile teams they’re putting on the floor. And fans are going to love it.