Venue News: Baylor’s McLane Stadium Nears Completion; Kings’ Proposed Arena Prioritizes Premium Seating

McLane Stadium is beginning to look the way Baylor University officials want its teenage football prospects to see it, writes the Waco Tribune-Herald. With the project an estimated 97% complete, crews are working on the finishing touches, including some calculated to awe recruits even before the first game day Aug. 31. A 7,500-square-foot oval locker room has 120 wood lockers finished in cherry-wood veneer, with an enormous, lighted “BU” logo descending from the soaring ceiling. Around the corner is a “recruiting room” with picture windows affording an up-close, turf-level view of the game…

…The Sacramento Kings are abandoning an arena that has among the fewest seats in the NBA, according to the Sacramento Bee. They’re building a new arena … also with fewer seats than nearly all other NBA venues. The $477 million arena at Downtown Plaza, set to begin construction later this month, will seat just 17,500 fans. That’s fewer than 200 additional seats compared to Sleep Train Arena, which is widely considered outmoded and inadequate for NBA use. The Kings’ owners say their new building will be more lucrative than Sleep Train through the magic of modern arena design…

…Construction work began Thursday on one of the two main sports complexes that Rio de Janeiro plans to use for the 2016 Olympics, as organizers hope to quell speculation that the city won’t be ready, writes the Wall Street Journal. Located on a sprawling military base on Rio’s outskirts, the so-called Deodoro Sports Complex will host mostly outdoor sports, such as equestrian, shooting and mountain biking…

…The Oakland Athletics, after receiving permission from commissioner Bud Selig to move from O.co Coliseum unless a deal was approved, finalized an agreement Thursday on a 10-year extension through the 2024 season, writes The Sports Xchange. The deal was approved by the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority. The deal still needs to be formally approved by the Oakland City Council and Alameda County Board of Supervisors later this month. According to ESPN.com, the deal settles all outstanding issues between the two sides, including a dispute of past rent owed by the A’s…

…In the world of college football, staying stagnant puts you behind, writes ESPN. If you aren’t trying to get bigger, strong and faster on the field, you’re lost. But you’re also going to suffer if the environment surrounding your program isn’t sparkling and dazzling to look at. That’s why stadium expansion is running rampant and why video scoreboards are getting bigger, brighter and bolder. High-definition screens have grown and more entertaining videos and graphics have made it into college football stadiums. ESPN ranks the 10 biggest and most entertaining scoreboards in college football.