Texas Tech University looks set to take over the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum if voters decide to abandon the facility later this year.
According to KCBD-TV in Lubbock, Texas Tech University is planning to take over the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum and Auditorium, if voters decide to abandon the arena during the May 6th election. On May 6th voters in Lubbock will have the decision to approve the City of Lubbock's plans for abandoning the arena.
"The mayor has been out front on this issue and he has engaged us, getting a sense of whether we would welcome having those properties released to Texas Tech, and we would," Texas Tech University President Dr. Lawrence Schovanec told KCBD.
If the structure is abandoned by voters, Schovanec says that the site of the arena could make for an idea dorm facility, as Texas Tech neared capacity of the dorms earlier this year. NCAA rules set guidelines on the number of athletes to students who may use the dorms and Schovanec told the television station that the arena could be ideally suited to be used as a dorm facility, such as those at the University of Oklahoma.
Schovanec said that the University has already received an estimate for demolishing the arena to make way for a new dorm. The demolition is expected to run about $4 million, according to the University president.
Lubbock voters will decide the arena's fate in May.
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