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An on-campus riverside stadium clad in red brick with a horseshoe design and open endzone facing due south. Exactly as I would have hoped it would be.
Still, for Baylor to be entertaining this idea at all is the realization of a long-held dream of several significant Baylor alums, our head coach Art Briles, and an extremely large percentage of dedicated Baylor fans who have longed for years to escape our dilapidated facility in Beverly Hills.
I (like most Baylor fans who pay attention) have heard significant rumblings about this stadium for months, most of which relate to Drayton McLane, who has been the most outspoken advocate for an on-campus home for Baylor football. Hopefully as the sale process of his Houston Astros franchise goes forward, we'll get more information from him and Baylor about what they plan to do.
I don't have any inside information about this point, but I can tell you my belief that we would not have gotten to a regents vote to "explore" the situation in more depth without lengthy backroom dealings. I would bet almost anything that we are actually further along in the process than Baylor wants its people to believe. I have heard rumors that plans for the stadium exist already due to what will be a difficult approval process given the location of the proposed site and the geographic features thereon. Those plans supposedly align closely with what is represented above.
When I know something more about the stadium, you'll know it. Baylor says that this stadium is an opportunity for the University to make a "major statement." Given what has happened in realignment and how close we have come to being left out in the cold, I would prefer to think of it as a major commitment. Building this stadium will demonstrate that Baylor has every intention of being the major player in college football that it should be and that our conference mates expect us to be. Baylor's fans and alumni should support this effort unequivocally and demand that this dream be brought to fruition.
UPDATE:
Additional renderings have appeared on several boards that show additional changes and provide a better perspective on the location and orientation of the new stadium.
Several things jump out immediately from this picture:
1. The 5 fields located to the ESE of the stadium itself on the stadium side of the river. Tailgating areas? New intramural fields? Both? If those are part of the plan, that would be premium tailgating territory.
2. Some kind of walking bridge over University Parks (the brownish color directly in front of the Discovery Center). It would appear from the limited parking represented in the image that Baylor's plan is to force people to park on-campus and then cross the river. Giving people an easy way to get across UP is the first step in making that feasible.
3. The sailgating/boat area just to the east of the stadium in the remaining inlet. I assumed before seeing this image that Baylor would fill that area in for parking lots. If they decide not to, that saves tremendous cost and could add a unique feature to the stadium area. They would almost certainly have to dredge the river to make sure it is passable for boats of various sizes, but giving people the chance to bring their watercraft down and sailgate would be an experience unlike any in the country.
