McLane Stadium is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

stadium in

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the ...

owned and operated by

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

. Originally named "Baylor Stadium", the facility's name was changed to "McLane Stadium" in December 2013 to honor Baylor alumnus and business magnate Drayton McLane, Jr., who provided the lead gift in the fundraising campaign for the stadium construction. Baylor's first game at McLane was played August 31, 2014, with the Bears defeating SMU 45–0. The stadium has a capacity of 45,140 spectators and was designed to be expandable to a capacity of 55,000 as future needs require. McLane Stadium replaced Floyd Casey Stadium as the home field for the

Baylor Bears football The Baylor Bears football team represents Baylor University in Division I FBS college football. They are a member of the Big 12 Conference. After 64 seasons at the off-campus Baylor Stadium, renamed Floyd Casey Stadium in 1989, the Bears opened ...

program.

Events

The first college football game in McLane Stadium was a 45–0 Baylor win over SMU, in the 2014 season opener, on August 31, 2014. The Bears followed up their first victory with a 70-6 win over FCS opponent

Northwestern State Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSU) is a public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the Univer ...

. In addition to sporting events, Baylor and the city of

Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

plan to use the venue to host concerts and other community events such as The Gathering (a local gathering of churches on

Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Holy ...

). The stadium features the Baylor Club, a dining and event space located on the stadium's west side. The Baylor Club ballroom offers floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the field and panoramic views of the Brazos River and Waco.

Features

The stadium is located on the north bank of the

Brazos River The Brazos River ( , ), called the ''Río de los Brazos de Dios'' (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 11th-longest river in the United States at from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater Dr ...

, one of a few major college football stadiums (along with

Neyland Stadium Neyland Stadium ( ), is a sports stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. It serves primarily as the home of the Tennessee Volunteers football team, but is also used to host large conventions and has been a site for several National Footb ...

Husky Stadium Husky Stadium (officially Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium for sponsorship purposes) is an outdoor football stadium in the northwest United States, located on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. It h ...

and

Heinz Field Acrisure Stadium is a football stadium located in the North Shore neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It primarily serves as the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL) and the Pittsburgh Panth ...

) where fans can arrive at the stadium by boat. Fans can " sailgate" in the Baylor Basin, a cove that adjoins the stadium. The stadium contains 39 suites, 74 loge boxes, 1,200 outdoor club seats, 3,000 seats for the Baylor Line< student group, and 6,700 total student seats.

Video board

The stadium includes a large high-definition LED video board behind the south end zone. The board has an area of 5,029 square feet, ranking it as the 13th largest college football video board in the nation as of April 2014. McLane also features ribbon displays around the stadium's horseshoe configuration, measuring 1,254 feet in length. To complement the video board, Baylor released an in-game mobile app that enables fans to stream live footage, watch game replays from a variety of angles, and access current game statistics. To accommodate usage of the app, the stadium is outfitted with free Wi-Fi. The video board from Baylor's previous football stadium, Floyd Casey Stadium, was installed at the university's baseball field,

Baylor Ballpark Baylor Ballpark is the baseball stadium at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. The stadium was built on the site of Ferrell Field, Baylor's home from 1977 to 1998, by mid-February in 1999. The Bears have hosted three NCAA regional and two super regi ...

.http://www.wacotrib.com/sports/baylor/football/baylor-ballpark-to-receive-part-of-floyd-casey-stadium-scoreboard/article dcb2b713-9b99-5397-9755-f4abea7a0eba.html?photo=1

Locker room

Baylor constructed a 7,500-square-foot home locker room. Designed as an oval in the shape of a football, the facilities feature over 120 cherry wood lockers. Additionally, the center of the room's ceiling features a large illuminated "BU" logo.

Attendance records

Single game attendance

Season average attendance

† Limited to 25% capacity due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Gallery

File:Baylor University's McLane Stadium.JPG, Inaugural game, 2014 File:Theline.jpg, Football game in 2016 File:Baylor McLane Stadium Video Board.JPG, Video board File:Baylor McLane Stadium Locker Room.JPG, Locker room File:Baylor University June 2016 69 (McLane Stadium).jpg, Exterior view

References

External links

*
McLane Stadium
at Baylor Bears (archived)
Baylor Stadium Construction Lawsuit
{{Texas college football venues Baylor Bears football venues Sports venues in Waco, Texas American football venues in Texas 2014 establishments in Texas Sports venues completed in 2014