Michael McBroom
With a 964 to 760 vote in November 2008, students at West Texas A&M University said, “Yes” to a new Sports Complex on campus. The WT athletic program is leaving behind their old fields and is currently under construction for new facilities scheduled to open in August.
“We got it to a vote of the students in November 2008,” WT Director of Athletics, Michael McBroom said. “It takes a process to even get it to that stage. Where we are in construction now is ahead of time by about a year. We moved as quickly as we could on it, and to have it done within two years of the vote of the students is actually a pretty remarkable accomplishment.”
These estimated $41-50 million dollar facilities are being built largely from tuition increases. Donations have been sought to help complete the project. The Sports Complex will contain baseball and softball fields, three intramural softball fields, a soccer field, a track, a practice field for football and the Buffalo Marching Band, as well as tennis courts, sand volleyball and outdoor basketball courts.
“This new sports complex will give us about the best facilities in the country,” McBroom said. “It will certainly help with recruiting and help our ability to prepare for the seasons without losing game or practice times due to weather. It will give our fans and students who come to games much nicer venues, especially for the spring sports. We are excited about it because it is certainly beneficial to us, the fans and the student body. It is going to dramatically impact our campus.”
Fans and students can expect to see more home games next season thanks to the new complex. The WT athletic department hopes to schedule games at more convenient times for their fans.
Sports Complex Site Plan
“If we can get lights worked in prior to this season or the next, we will have more games at night,” McBroom said. “Evening games draw more fans from the community and the student body. When you play at one o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon, you are limited as to who can attend those games, but if you can move those games back to six or seven o’clock starts, more people are able to take advantage of coming out to a game.”
WT also hopes to avoid game cancellations brought on by inclement weather. The new sports complex will be equipped with artificial surfaces to help combat poor field conditions.
“We are hoping that the sports complex will mean that we don’t have to move our spring sports around so much due to weather,” McBroom said. “We are going to be able to maintain a set schedule without losing games due to weather.”
The Sports Complex will also increase the number of conference tournaments and NCAA championships WT will be hosting in future years. Coaches and athletes seem motivated by the new facilities to improve on current standings.
“We have high expectations of all of our programs whether they have a new complex to compete in or not,” McBroom said. “We expect to win championships. It doesn’t matter where we play. I expect our teams to be the best day in and day out, so that is what we strive to do.”
The fields are scheduled for completion around August 2010, while the surrounding facilities are scheduled for sometime in November.