Chris Beard gives take on new stadium, reveals best parts

One of the first orders of business for Chris Beard once he got to Texas: erect a new basketball stadium. In the middle of campus, with students sat in the front rows. Beard wants to create the same chaotic crowds like he had at Texas Tech. Which starts with students. Making it as easy as possible for them to access the games while also sitting them in the very front.

At a recent press conference, Beard addressed just how big of an addition the new hoops arena will be, especially given its location.

“Obviously, a game-changer in so many ways,” Beard said. “People ask me all the time what I think, and I try to think a lot of things. But one, I think I found the location on campus, right. A lot of people have amazing facilities, but they’re not on campus. I mean you guys know we’re sitting here right in the middle of campus, basically. You know, one of the things with the Urban Center was — it wasn’t necessarily the distance, but it was crossing [busy streets]. But this is like a straight shot. I think all those kids living in west campus can just basically walk to the tower, and then just walk to Moody. So I think that the location’s awesome.”

Beard also discussed is thought process behind sacrificing regular premium seating with much cheaper student seats.

“Two, obviously the commitment to put our students in the best seats in the arena. It’s a big move. A lot of people don’t do this. You build these type of arenas, simply stated, you got the donors and people like that normally get the best seat. So I think the commitment from our administration, was to give the students 270° of the 360°. We’re looking forward to that. We’re working this summer on how to fill that consistently. There’s gonna be 1,250 seats for the students in the lower level. And with the band and cheer and other people, that’s gonna be the lower level student section. Then we have the overflow up top that’s also gonna be a cool area.”

So for students at UT Austin, attending and watching Longhorns games up close just became much, much easier.

Finally, Chris Beard finished by again emphasizing the importance of the new locations of the arena and practice facility on campus and close to each other.

“I think, in a lot of ways, this arena could be a game changer for us. And certainly the practice facility, we’re days away from being in there. The location from game day arena and practice facility — it’s pretty special. There’s not a lot of places like this around the country.”