Larry Lyon, a sociology professor at Baylor University, remembers the tingle he felt in October 1998 when Baylor’s football team played Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.

The bands marched through campus right into the stadium, and professors attending an academic conference strolled into the sea of humanity when their meeting ended. Students walked and laughed their way to the game.

The only downer was the score: Baylor lost, 27-3.

Floyd Casey Stadium has been Baylor’s home for football since 1950, but it's about four miles from campus.
Rod Aydelotte/Tribune-Herald

“It was a wonderful way of doing things,” Lyon said, describing the atmosphere that day. “I’ve been to other campuses where they have on-campus stadiums, and it’s special.”

For Baylor, that is the $200 million question. Would a stadium on Baylor’s campus, possibly along Lake Brazos, make the Saturday game experience more appealing — to recruits, students, community fans and the power brokers who will help shape the landscape of big-time college football?

Some believe it would put a bow on Baylor’s football program. Others say the university could better spend the money on academics and research.

“Baylor has a beautiful campus. Unfortunately, the 40,000 to 50,000 people who come to our games never see it,” Lyon said.

Nonetheless, count him among those who would think long and hard about replacing venerable Floyd Casey Stadium, Baylor’s home for football since 1950 but about four miles from campus.

Baylor is the only school in the Big 12 whose football stadium is not on the school grounds.

An on-campus stadium “would be a wonderful thing, but just whiz-bang,” Lyon said. “We need to provide more scholarship dollars for students, hire more faculty and develop the BRIC.”

BRIC is short for Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative, a high-tech research and training center effort taking shape in 300,000 square feet of the former General Tire building.

Still, the notion of building a stadium on campus remains a hot topic.

“A number of members of the Baylor family have gotten enthusiastic about the prospect of an on-campus football facility. We are giving it thought and a healthy amount of discussion,” said Dary Stone, chairman of Baylor’s board of regents. “But we are at the conceptual stage only. We’re not trying to act as if it’s going to get done.”

Sources have said a new stadium would cost $175 million to $200 million.

“It would depend on how big and how nice we want it. Those are the kinds of details I would not want to speculate on,” Stone said, adding Baylor officials also are discussing possible upgrades to its existing stadium on Valley Mills Drive.

Significant discussions

Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw characterized the discussion as increasingly significant.

“The stadium issue is in the discussion phase, but I think it’s being discussed more seriously than it ever has been,” McCaw said. “One of the things we heard out of the whole Big 12 discussion this summer is that an on-campus stadium would be very attractive. I hear from a lot of alumni and fans about their desire for one, so I think it’s a lot more serious conversation than has taken place in the past.”

During the summer, the Big 12 nearly dissolved as the Pac-10 Conference wooed Colorado, Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. That would have left Baylor and a handful of other schools out in the cold. But the Big 12 South schools, led by Texas, chose to stay and salvage the league.

During the raid on the conference, Colorado and Nebraska bolted to the Pac-10 and Big Ten, respectively, but they are competing in the Big 12 this season.

McCaw said the concept of an on-campus stadium “is something that excites a lot of people, including me. But our focus right now is to create the best atmosphere we can at Floyd Casey Stadium.”

Rick Sheldon, a Waco developer with projects statewide, has focused his attention on Lake Brazos for nearly four years. He envisions a 200-room hotel cater-corner from the Waco Hilton, a trolley serving any new developments along the riverfront, restaurants, a stylized bridge over the river at Interstate 35 — and a domed stadium.

“It would be the world’s greatest recruiting poster for Baylor University,” said Sheldon, who envisions the stadium going up on the east bank of Lake Brazos, where Baylor had hoped to build the George W. Bush presidential library before the Bushes chose to place it in Dallas instead.

Such a project, he said, would so bolster the economy that it would attract financial support from state and local governments and private investors. Of course, he added, “we would need contributions from Baylor Nation.”

More than just football

An array of events could take place there year-round, not just when Baylor plays football, said Sheldon, who estimated the cost of such a dome at between $200 million and $300 million.

He said revenue could be generated “through innovative things” such as naming rights, seat licenses, season ticket sales and advertising within the stadium.

Because it would be a public-private venture involving Baylor, he said, alcohol sales could be allowed during some events but not at those involving the Baptist university.

“I think it would be the greatest thing ever for Baylor,” said Sheldon, who played football at the University of Texas. “I don’t think there would be any more talk about kicking Baylor out of a conference.”

Baylor regent Stone, of Dallas, said putting a stadium on campus “would require the support of the university, its donors and the community. It would be ridiculously premature to comment on some private developer’s concept of a domed stadium.”

Floyd Casey Stadium

For now, Baylor will work with what it has — a $1.5 million stadium that opened in 1950 at what is now Dutton Avenue and Valley Mills Drive. It accommodates 50,000 fans today.

Through the years, the stadium has been enhanced with video screens, luxury suites, a locker-room face-lift, new lighting and seating, several turf upgrades and construction of Grant Teaff Plaza, named for Baylor’s winningest coach.

But as the only private school in the Big 12, Baylor always has ranked near the bottom in attendance, including a league-low average of 36,306 fans at six home games in 2009.

That is well below the league average of 62,875 fans per game last season.

Baylor has tried to turn the tide by launching an aggressive “Rise Up” campaign this season that has worked so far.

Waco businessman Bill Clifton serves on the board that decides if industries can receive money from the Waco-McLennan County Economic Development Corp. fund.

Competition for dollars

He knows the value of Baylor University and the prestige it garners with Big 12 membership.

“Sure, I would like to see a new stadium on campus, but I don’t see that as an intelligent expenditure of dollars. I just don’t think it would add that much when so many other things are competing for funds,” Clifton said. “I’d like to see Baylor put that money in post-baccalaureate programs right now.”

Such advanced degree programs would escalate the university’s scholastic status, the education level of the community and the lure for business and industry.

Sophomore quarterback Robert Griffin said he thinks an on-campus stadium would boost attendance, even though Baylor does not have the student numbers of the Big 12’s state schools. He said alumni from other cities and some locals might find it more convenient to attend a game in a stadium right off I-35.

Even without an on-campus stadium, Baylor’s facilities turned the head of senior defensive back Byron Landor during his recruiting trip to Baylor after playing in junior college.

“I was amazed the first time I saw them,” Landor said. “When they built the indoor practice facility, it was like I was in heaven.”

Landor said he thinks an on-campus stadium would put icing on the cake.

“It would be great for the students,” he said.

Stone, Baylor’s board chairman, said it is worth the university’s time to consider an on-campus stadium “because a sports platform is important for out identity. It helps us get the publicity we need and sell the Baylor message, which is, ‘We’re different.’ The podium gets a lot bigger when you have a successful athletic program.”

RELATED SEARCHES

• Baylor's Big 12 future hinges on success
• Big 12 conference confers stature, prestige to city of Waco through Baylor