Texas approves of $338m basketball arena

World-class UT Basketball arena will host Longhorns, benefit Austin community

The University of Texas at Austin (UT) and a group led by the Oak View Group (OVG) will build a world-class arena on campus that will be home to Texas Men's and Women's basketball games, graduations, concerts and other events. It is expected to be opened in 2021.

The innovative 35-year agreement between UT and ArenaCo — which includes OVG, Live Nation, C3 Presents and Matthew McConaughey — will be groundbreaking in college athletics and provide a public benefit for UT and the City of Austin for decades to come. The $338 million venue will be constructed on land fully owned by UT without using any university or public money.

The arena will be located on a current parking lot south of Mike A. Myers Stadium. It will replace the 41-year-old Frank C. Erwin Center, which will make way for the future expansion of the Dell Medical School. UT may be responsible for certain infrastructure improvements near the site to make it ready for construction.

Ok, you may ask... Why am I bringing this up? Texas isn't even in the ACC and we're talking basketball here. What's the big deal? Well, in my opinion, this has a lot to do with our future plans of Cassell. Why? Well, Texas is building this arena to downsize from their current arena with a seating capacity of 16,540, to this new one, with a capacity of 10,000.

This very well could be the signal of the end of the need for massive basketball venues, and the push for more intimate venues packed with fan amenities. Texas is downsizing by nearly half while being smack dab in the middle of Austin, a city that should allow them to seat more.

We already know that Whit has previously said he's working to figure out plans for the future of Cassell, with a major announcement expected before 2022. Keeping an eye on what is happening in Austin could provide us an interesting blueprint for how he might go. There is no need to go bigger, but there is a need to go nicer. And now we're seeing that some of the big boys with money to burn have the same mindset. Could be interesting.