WACO, Texas — The 7,500-seat Foster Pavilion is ready to host fans for Baylor Basketball starting January 2nd.
- The arena was constructed with the fan and player experience in mind.
- The teams will also have state of the art technology in their practice gyms to provide additional training resources.
- The additional locker rooms and Hurd Welcome Center are still in construction and are expected to open in early summer.
For over 35 years the Ferrell Center has been home to many memorable Baylor bears basketball games, volleyball matches and acrobatics and tumbling competitions, but a new era is about to begin in Waco.
“It's just, it's a great challenge,” Associate AD of Capital Projects and Championships Henry Howard said. “It's very rewarding and to see it coming. True. Now, it's a great Christmas gift.”
In just two weeks Scott drew and the Baylor men’s basketball team will play the first ever game in their new home – the foster pavilion.
“The excitement is at an all time high and I'm just really excited to open those doors a little bit earlier on January 2nd and let the guests come in,” Howard said. “You know, circulate the building, see the signage that we have, but then get in their seats for a game day to really impact the outcome of the game.”
The 7,500 seat arena was carefully constructed with the fan and player experience in mind. The developers worked with Salas O’Brien, an engineering firm that measures decibel levels to enhance the experience in the arena. They measured every decibel of every square foot of the bowl to give the bears some home-court advantage.
“It will be louder at the right times,” Howard said. “You know, we don't want to distract from what's going on on the court, but when it's time to celebrate a dunk or a 12 0 run, we want to make sure that the, the decibel level is at its highest so that the visiting team has trouble telling them how to make adjustments for the home team.”
The developers have also implemented state of the art technology inside the foster practice gyms to give the players and coaches additional resources.
“We’ve got some features in the practice gyms some massive video boards that are not only going to help with recruiting cause we can show highlights, it’s going to impact the day to day training,” Howard said. “The coaches can literally film practice, stop practice and say, ‘hey, that's a great way to set a screen or hey, let's work on this’ and they can show him on a massive board that's approximately 15 feet by 40 feet.”
While the locker rooms and Hurd welcome center are set to open by early summer -- the Foster Pavilion will be ready to welcome fans on January 2nd when the men’s team hosts Cornell and on January 3rd when the women’s team hosts TCU. If you’re planning on attending there will be a parking plan in place along with shuttle routes as construction on the parking garage next to the pavilion continues.