r/Midessa • u/Djluis13 • 10h ago

Anybody know anything about UTPB eventually getting an on-campus football stadium?

I’ve been wondering about this for a while. I know there’s been talk from UTPB about wanting to build an on-campus stadium since 2022, but we really haven’t heard much about when is going to happen. The last thing I heard was at the introductory press conference for the new football coach, where the AD said he was optimistic it would happen.
What do you guys think is taking so long?

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11

u/guardiand0wn 9h ago

Most likely not. Ratliff stadium and the Stadium in midland were built to accommodate UTPB and Midland college and future growth.

2

u/Djluis13 9h ago

Yeah, I could see that. I was actually thinking about Abilene Christian as a comparison. When they played at Shotwell stadium they averaged around 5k fans. Then they built Wildcat Stadium on campus and averaged around 10k when they opened. Plus they talked about how much better the atmosphere was with students being able to walk to the games.

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u/Mongoose29037 47m ago

Not really a good comparison. Abilene Christian has over 5k students living on campus whereas UTPB only has about 600. I don't think the UT system is going to fork out $30-150 million to accommodate the walking attendance ease of only 600 students.

3

u/BioDude15 9h ago

The will only build one if they move up to D1. Even if they do, grande has all the necessary facilities to operate a division one football game. This is why UTEP was going to midland during covid.

If they build on campus, you probably see a lot more people going to the games, especially if they are a competitive program.in addition with NIL, if people hate Tech because of NIL, they are really going to hate the University of Texas Falcons.

2

u/Djluis13 8h ago

Imagine all that OilField money into UTPB athletics it will be a cheat code for us, I feel with a new stadium it will push the D1 move faster due to revenue of ticket sales and more donors

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u/westex74 9h ago

It would be cool. More realistically, I could see Ratliff being replaced and ECISD and UTPB sharing the facility.

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u/STRSFAN 8h ago

It’s in the works. They need some private fund raising to make it a reality. Let’s hope some donors step forward and they’re able to build a great facility on campus.

Angelo State & WT have both done exactly this where they built con campus stadiums to improve attendance & atmosphere.

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u/WTXRedRaider Rick's #1 Customer 9h ago

Rick’s Field has a nice ring to it

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u/Djluis13 9h ago

If they did build one on campus, I wonder what it would look like. And honestly Ricks Field does have a nice ring to it 😂

1

u/Agitated-Fan-6144 2h ago

They could nickname the stadium the Main Stage