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Baylor Basketball

Baylor provides update on Fudge Football Development Center, Foster Pavilion

May 20, 2022
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WACO, Texas — Baylor Regents approved $5 million for phase 1 design and early construction activities for the Fudge Football Development Center, which will house the day-to-day operations of the Big 12 champion Baylor football program. This amount is in addition to the previously approved $6 million for a total of $11 million for this initial phase.

The update was provided in a press release released by Baylor University on Friday which included the announcement of an extension for President Linda Livingstone through 2032.

The Fudge Football Development Center was made possible through a $15 million gift from Jeremy and Kristy Fudge of Parker, Texas, to the University’s Give Light Campaign. The Fudge Center will connect to the Allison Indoor Practice Facility, expanding the 80-yard indoor turf field to 100 yards and creating more than 100,000 square feet of new space for the Baylor football program. The facility will include offices for coaches, equipment staff, medical trainers and a locker room for student-athletes, as well as a medical training room, equipment distribution room, a strength and conditioning weight room and a large team meeting room.

Board members also received an update on the Paul and Alejandra Foster Basketball Pavilion and Development Center, the new $212.6 million home of Baylor’s championship men’s and women’s basketball teams. Site work on the facility’s location is already underway behind Clifton Robinson Tower along the Brazos River on the west side of I-35. An early opening of the Foster Pavilion is targeted for January 2024 in time for Big 12 Conference play, with the adjoining Development Center’s opening anticipated in April 2024.

On Thursday, Regents donned hard hats for a guided walk-through of the under-construction Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center, a 136,000-square-foot “front door” to Baylor that will serve as the hub for the approximately 60,000 prospective students, families, alumni and other guests who currently visit campus, creating interest and enthusiasm in the University through a high-tech and interactive experience.

While on the tour, Board members signed the steel structure of one of the building’s four signature light pillars, led by Regent Paula R. Hurd. Paula and her husband, the late Mark Hurd, B.B.A. ’79, a former Regent and vice chair of the Board as well as tennis student-athlete, gave the first major gift to the Give Light Campaign – and one of the largest gifts in Baylor history – to create Hurd Welcome Center. Features include a bright, window-filled grand hall and ballroom; spirit shop; a suspended, 250-seat theater that opens up to a stunning view of Pat Neff Hall and the Baylor campus; offices for Admissions and Baylor Alumni staff; and more. The Hurd Center is expected to fully open in time for the Fall 2023 semester.

 
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