McLane Stadium still impresses after 10 years of Baylor football ups and downs (2024)

McLane Stadium arrived 10 years ago, a gleaming gem on the Brazos River’s east bank near Interstate 35 that cost $266 million.

The Baylor Bears made their debut there on Aug. 31, 2014, with a 45-0 whitewash of the SMU Mustangs, and fans and friends roared their approval.

This is what everybody said an on-campus stadium would deliver: fun atmosphere, full house, students and parents strolling across the pedestrian bridge to Touchdown Alley.

The football team itself was quite a sight. The Bears and TCU Horned Frogs that year shared the Big 12 title, both with 11-1 regular season records, though each was snubbed by the College Football Playoff selection committee.

Good times rolled for a team that had once been dismissed as a runt of the conference. And despite the ups and downs of the next decade, they will roll again, says Drayton McLane Jr., the stadium namesake.

Having a home “right on I-35 and right on the river is the magical part,” he said in a phone interview this week. “Students can walk across. Fans see the stadium and are excited about going to a Baylor football game. It has paid dividends, not only for Baylor football but for the entire athletic program.”

McLane led the charge for the campaign for the stadium, tucking the ball under his arm and scoring points behind that good ol’ Baylor line. He pressed fellow regents and Baylor President Ken Starr, loaded decision-makers into his private plane for a trip to Kansas City and a meeting with architects from Populous, who had designed the Houston Astros’ Minute Maid Park.

McLane later would sell his Astros, making possible his lead gift to build a new stadium.

On the gridiron, it helped that the Bears were blowing and going in their old digs, Floyd Casey Stadium, giving fans a taste of big-time football. Leading the resurgence was a charismatic young man named Robert Griffin III, who won the Heisman Trophy in 2011.

To suggest McLane Stadium was the new home that Griffin inspired would not ring hollow. His exploits put donors in a giving mood.

The future looked bright. Art Briles no longer felt compelled to take recruits to Baylor’s aging home field under the cover of darkness to hide its flaws.

Downtown Waco stood to gain financially from a 45,000-fan influx on game day, the count including Sooners, Longhorns, Horned Frogs and Red Raiders craving meals, entertainment and lodging. The city of Waco itself had a $35 million stake in this $266 million venture, in the form of a contribution from the downtown Tax Increment Financing Zone.

The stadium and surrounding public spaces would be open for community events, helping to burst the infamous Baylor bubble that separated town and gown.

But life happened. A third-party investigation by the law firm Pepper Hamilton revealed in May 2016 a “fundamental failure” in Baylor’s response to sexual assaults on women, including a failure by the football program to report such assaults by its players. Briles and former Athletic Director Ian McCaw received pink slips, along with Starr and other top leaders.

Coach Matt Rhule breathed life into the program following a 1-11 start before taking a pro job with the Carolina Panthers in 2020. Just two years later, he became head coach at Nebraska, vowing to return the Cornhuskers to prominence, or at least respectability. Dave Aranda’s team won the conference, thanks in part to the talent Rhule left him, then stifled Ole Miss in the 2022 Sugar Bowl.

Now whoever coaches Baylor, or any other NCAA Division 1 program, must navigate realignment, Name Image and Likeness deals and a sieve-like transfer portal that continuously churns rosters.

Since that 21-7 throttling of Ole Miss, the pickings at McLane Stadium have been thin. “Sic ‘em Bears” became “Look out below.” An often lifeless team nosedived to 3-9 last season, when a scheduling fluke allowed Baylor to host eight home games, most in the nation. Opportunity soured and the team suffered seven home losses, including a gut-punching 1-point overtime defeat to the Houston Cougars. The lone win came against the Long Island Sharks.

Aranda became fodder for Monday morning quarterbacks and disgruntled fans questioning either his coaching ability or suitability for the position. Baylor stuck with Aranda, who has taken a hands-on approach to coaching up the defense, having made his bones on that side of the ball.

The jury is out on Aranda, and on McLane Stadium, which has seen the good, the bad and the decidedly unattractive. A pandemic imposed itself on the world about halfway through McLane’s decade in the spotlight. The Texas Department of Transportation spent $341 million and three years rebuilding Interstate 35 outside McLane Stadium. Traffic snarls, anyone?

Aranda, it would seem, knows his seat is getting toasty.

“There’s been some big games in that stadium, and there’s been a lot of powerful moments for Baylor fans in that stadium,” Aranda said during a news conference earlier this week. “I’ve been a part of a few, would like to be a part of a lot more. I know from a fan perspective, (they’re asking) what’s it going to be. Is this going to be like last year, is it going to be all that? So, I think that first game has a lot to do, though not all to do, with answering that question.”

A good start, he said, would lay the groundwork for more games at McLane Stadium that fans consider special.

The college football landscape continues to evolve. Teams must adapt or perish. Texas and Oklahoma have skedaddled to the SEC. Some Baylor fans may wish them good riddance, but keep in mind the Longhorns and Sooners produced five of the six largest crowds McLane Stadium has seen, including the 50,223 who saw Oklahoma shock the Bears, 34-31, overcoming a 25-point deficit. ESPN’s College GameDay crew broadcast live from McLane that day, Nov. 16, 2019.

McLane Stadium was built with a listed seating capacity of 45,140, but it holds thousands more counting standing room and the South Endzone Berm. Baylor can enlarge McLane’s seating capacity to 55,000.

Baylor on Thursday announced a new hospitality area, Brazos Suites, that can accommodate up to 150 people spread over three suites. Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia brand secured naming rights.

“We are selling the suites on an individual game basis, but with the ability to purchase for the entire season if desired. Tarleton is sold out for this weekend, but we have limited availability for each remaining game currently,” said Luke Holcomb, general manager for athletics at Baylor Sports Properties.

“The suites are located inside the stadium in the South Endzone in front of the main videoboard, and yes you can watch the game from each suite either in seats or inside the air-conditioned suite itself,” said Holcomb.

The new-look Big 12 stretches almost coast to coast. Newbies coming aboard and competing this season include Arizona State, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. They join the four new teams that began play the previous year, those being Brigham Young, Cincinnati, Houston and Central Florida.

McLane’s 45,140 seating capacity aligns comfortably with seating availability at most other Big 12 venues, though it is smaller than all but Houston’s TDECU Stadium and Cincinnati’s Nippert Stadium, each with 40,000 seats. Should Baylor expand McLane’s seating to 55,000, it would pass Colorado, TCU, UCF, Kansas State, Utah, Oklahoma State, Arizona, Arizona State and Kansas in current home field seating capacity.

David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium is undergoing a $448 million renovation the school hopes to complete by the 2025 season. Kansas will play home games this season at Kansas City Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium.

Justin Martinez, with The Oklahoman newspaper, ranked McLane Stadium 12th among the conference’s 16 teams for homefield advantage. He weighed maximum capacity, crowd atmosphere and team success.

McLane Stadium, he said, “has one of the better home atmospheres in the Big 12 when Baylor is playing well.” He said proof came in 2021, when the Bears won all seven home games as they compiled a 12-2 record.

“But the Bears haven’t been very good since then,” said Martinez, noting the 4-10 home record the past two seasons. Average home attendance declined from 45,463 in 2022 to 43,388 last year. He said Baylor should be “marginally better” this season but still fall into the bottom half of conference standings.

“That doesn’t bode well for the atmosphere at McLane Stadium,” he said.

Drayton McLane saw things differently from an attendance standpoint.

“When Art (Briles) was coach, we had some really great teams, and we had some good success after he left,” said McLane. “I’ve been so impressed with how attendance has stood up, people walking in during the rain and staying in the rain. They are excited about enjoying the football game day experience. We’re seeing friends getting together for fellowship and good food before and after the game. At Floyd Casey, they went to the game then went home.”

Sammy Citrano, a Waco restaurateur and die-hard Baylor fan, sees unmet potential in the activity the stadium could generate.

Citrano, whose George’s restaurant on Speight Avenue enjoys cult status among the green-and-gold crowd, said policy changes at McLane Stadium forced him to discontinue his George’s Party Zone across Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from McLane.

George’s Party Zone had been a fixture at Floyd Casey Stadium. Located just off Baylor-controlled property, it offered alcoholic beverages, food and live college football TV broadcasts, including Baylor games. Some fans spent hours moving freely between the stadium and George’s Party Zone.

The zone followed Baylor to McLane, but Citrano said rules against leaving and re-entering the stadium drastically cut his attendance and revenue.

“We made the decision not to return after last year. We broke even with eight games. The traffic was a lot slower,” said Citrano. “This year, there are six games, without Oklahoma and Texas. ... We’ve done this 20-something years, since 1996, but there are a lot more 11 o’clock games, when it’s hard to get crowds, especially out-of-town fans.

“Last year, we might get 200 to 300 people at George’s Party Zone. Back in the day, we would get 2,000 to 3,000,” Citrano said. “They changed our ability to be successful. You leave, you can’t come back.”

Citrano said he remains a Baylor loyalist. He caters many school-related functions. But this season he will create his own George’s Party Zone on the parking lot of George’s “mother ship” at 1925 Speight Ave.

Considering its size, beauty and location, McLane Stadium needs to step up its game, Citrano said. It has not consistently hosted “big time stuff,” perhaps a Willie Nelson concert or other event drawing from Central Texas.

“It’s underperforming just hosting six or seven games a year,” he said. “Businesses coming to Waco expect to have something there every weekend. I’m not mad at people, but God Almighty, it’s sitting right there.”

Baylor spokeswoman Lori Fogleman noted that country star Parker McCollum performed at Touchdown Alley in April, part of his “Burn it Down” tour. She said an estimated 12,000 people attended the show.

Gregg Glime, a Baylor alum and successful commercial real estate agent in Waco, has listed, sold and assisted with developing properties downtown.

“In general I am a major fan of the impact McLane Stadium has had. Just its presence on the I-35 corridor coming through town and the impact that has on our skyline is meaningful,” Glime said via email.

“In my opinion it was really the first big stepping stone in getting the Baylor and Downtown market connected and that will continue paying dividends as strategic development decisions are made downtown,” Glime said.

One decision stakeholders have made is placing the $213 million Foster Pavilion and new Baylor basketball arena at Interstate 35 and University Parks Drive, also nudging Lake Brazos. They anchor riverfront development to include parking garages, restaurants, public areas and retail.

Longtime Baylor benefactor and former regent Clifton Robinson recalls a recent visit to the President’s Box at McLane Stadium. He described as stunning the panoramic view of downtown, the Brazos River, the campus and Interstate 35. He called the stadium an asset to Baylor and to Waco, and said he could not overstate how popular the stadium’s year-round Baylor Club has become.

“It’s probably the most used club in Waco,” said Robinson.

Asked about potential development immediately around McLane Stadium, the arrival of restaurants, retailers and other commercial ventures, Robinson noted that Baylor owns and controls nearly all McLane’s environs.

McLennan Central Appraisal District data shows Baylor owns 190 of about 590 parcels in the area between McLane and the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative, located at Business 77 near Orchard Lane.

“They have bought and are continuing to buy all property on the east side of the river, all the way to the research center,” Robinson said. “I don’t have a timetable because it takes hundreds of millions of dollars to do. This is part of Baylor’s long-term planning. They are not going any farther west, or to the north. They are not going any farther south past LaSalle Avenue.

“One day the campus will be connected to the research center. I don’t think that’s a secret. It’s been discussed many times by the board. Baylor owns so much property over there you wouldn’t believe it,” said Robinson. “As the campus expands, enrollment expands, Baylor’s going to go in that direction.”

Waco businessman John Embry, who owns Pioneer Steel & Pipe Co., echoed Robinson’s assessment. He said Baylor bought the old plant Pioneer had occupied since 1953. It relocated in 2023 to South Loop 340, between University Parks Drive and 12th Street, next to Buzbee Feed and Seed.

“To my knowledge, Baylor has been somewhat aggressive with acquisitions between the BRIC and McLane Stadium,” Embry added via email.

Fogleman said McLane Stadium belongs entirely to Baylor.

“The city did contribute a gift to the stadium, as it did with Foster Pavilion, but they are Baylor property,” she said. “When McLane Stadium was built, the Baylor Waco Stadium Authority was created to run operations on non-gamedays; however, it was recently dissolved.

“Baylor solely operates McLane Stadium,” she said Fogleman.

Bonds were issued to finance building McLane Stadium beyond fundraising. Fogleman said those bonds “are still active.”