WACO, Texas — Baylor’s basketball teams play in a new home along the banks of the Brazos River after 35 years under the gold dome of the Ferrell Center.
The 18th-ranked Bears christened the new Foster Pavilion in their non-conference final Tuesday night against Cornell. The sixth-ranked women’s team debuts Wednesday night against in-state rival and No. 23 TCU in a matchup of undefeated Big 12 teams.
While there are parts of the $212 million facility that are still unfinished outside the field, the 7,000-seat stadium with standing room for about 500 more spectators was ready for the games. It came 18 months after construction began in May 2022.
Athletic director Mack Rhoades said there were a lot of conversations about moving into games without having everything done.
“There were two main factors for us when we thought about that decision. One was our student-athletes, giving our student-athletes, particularly our seniors, the opportunity to play in a place like this,” Rhoades said. “And then I think for our basketball programs, we knew they were both going to be really good teams this year, but giving them the best home field advantage they could have during the Big 12 season.”
Before kickoff Tuesday, when most seats were filled, the school’s mascot delivered the game ball with a rappel from the rafters, where banners commemorate the 2021 men’s national championship and the three national titles won by the team female. Former player Matt Sayman gave an invocation.
Foster Pavilion is on the edge of campus across Interstate 35 from McLane Stadium, the football stadium that opened in 2014. The basketball stadium is part of a $700 million riverfront development in partnership between the school and the city of Waco.
“We were very intentional with the design of the field house, with the walkability, with clean sight lines, high volume, with containing the noise, making sure that in the arena part, it can be as loud as possible for our fans and for our basketball programs. Rhoades said.
It is just over a mile from the Ferrell Center, which had basketball capacity for more than 10,000 fans. That facility was built for about $12.5 million and opened in 1988.
Ferrell Center will continue to be home to the school’s national champion tumbling and tumbling team and women’s volleyball team.
The men’s and women’s basketball teams will continue to use their practice gyms at the Ferrell Center. The development center at the new stadium with practice fields, dedicated locker rooms and team lounges will be completed later this year.
If the Baylor women make the NCAA Tournament and host first- and second-round games, they would be played at the Ferrell Center because of the additional space needed that would not yet be available in the new building.
