Photo provided by Cushing Memorial Library & Archives
In 1998, Reed Arena opened its doors, replacing the famous G. Rollie White Coliseum as the permanent home of Aggie men’s and women’s basketball. The arena’s namesake, Dr. Chester J. Reed ’47, made its construction possible with a donation of 265 acres of undeveloped land west of Houston. His $13 million gift was the largest to the university at the time.
The arena floor is 25,000 square feet, while its second and third floors contain multipurpose rooms to accommodate smaller events. In 2006, the 68,000-square-foot Cox-McFerrin Center for Aggie Basketball was built directly adjacent to the arena, providing players with locker rooms, lounges, meeting and video rooms, and more. In 2009, the volleyball team also made a permanent move from G. Rollie White to Reed Arena.
The first event held in Reed Arena was campus Muster on April 21, 1998, and each Muster has been held there since (excluding 2020, when Muster was filmed in the arena due to COVID restrictions). Musters took place in G. Rollie White prior to this transition.
Setting up Reed Arena is an all-hands-on-deck affair, taking approximately six and a half hours to tear down an event and set up for a game. Staff members clean the arena, change out the floor, set up the risers and check even the seemingly tiny details. Depending on the schedule of events, Reed Arena staff may begin flipping the venue immediately after the end of a game and work through the early hours of the morning to prepare for the next day’s event.
Depending on the scale of the occasion, hosting sporting events or live performances can involve up to 250 people—including security staff, concession stand workers, ticketing personnel and facilities management.
Though it takes a village to host these events, Hernandez noted that the facilities and operations team’s presence is relatively small at showtime. Once preparations are complete and doors open, full-time staff members are typically more hands-off depending on the event’s size and demand.
Though Reed Arena’s seating capacity is listed at 12,989, attendance at a few of its most iconic events has exceeded this number. On Jan. 19, 2022, students and fans excitedly packed Reed to watch the Texas A&M men’s basketball team face No. 12-ranked Kentucky. The theme was white-out, and attendees received free “Rock Reed” T-shirts to commemorate the record-breaking crowd.
To accommodate the range of events held at Reed, a temporary court is moved on and off the floor throughout basketball season. The court-building process is tedious, requiring four people to lift each 80-pound piece. The floor is pieced together like a puzzle, starting from the middle of the court outward. For volleyball games, a special TeraFlex court designed to reduce player injury is laid on top of the basketball court.
Though the volleyball and basketball teams typically train in practice gyms, they build an added advantage by practicing in the game-like environment of their home court. Hernandez emphasized that ensuring each team gets playing time on the court can be difficult, especially during October and November when all three teams are in season.
“Luckily, we have great relationships with the teams, and they have great relationships with each other,” he added. “It’s helpful when coordinating practice times and making sure that everyone’s needs are met.”
The arena is also home to dozens of commencement ceremonies, both for Texas A&M University students and local high schools. Becky Arnold, who now serves as assistant director of facilities and operations and special events liaison for Texas A&M Athletics and has worked at Reed Arena since it opened, estimated that Reed has been the site of around 540 commencement ceremonies over the years.
Photo by The Eagle
Beginning with the final three nights of “The Garth Brooks World Tour” in 1998, Reed Arena has hosted some of the world’s most famous musicians and performers. With stars like Shania Twain, Soulja Boy, Lyle Lovett ’79, The Chicks (formerly The Dixie Chicks), Robert Earl Keen ’78 and the cast of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”, the arena’s list of headliners covers just about every genre of music and every form of entertainment.
Reed has also been transformed to host a myriad of unique events. Staff members have built skating rinks for multiple Disney on Ice performances and brought in 20 truckloads of dirt for three Professional Bull Riders events. The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus and Cirque du Soleil also performed in the arena. “I’ve pretty much seen every kind of animal or person possible here at Reed,” joked Roger Schoppe, long-time Reed staff member and current assistant director for facilities and operations for Texas A&M Athletics.
Reed Arena embodied its role as a multipurpose facility during the COVID-19 pandemic as it temporarily became one of Texas A&M’s largest classrooms. To accommodate for safety precautions such as isolation distances and room capacities, Reed hosted and accommodated lecture courses as large as 300 students while adhering to guidelines. Students sat in the stands while professors used the 24-by-42-foot scoreboard as a screen.
Photo by Paul Morse
In the aftermath of hurricanes Harvey and Maria in 2017, Texas A&M became the site of a rare and historic event: the gathering of all five living former presidents. Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama gathered for “Deep in the Heart: The One America Appeal,” a concert event supporting hurricane victims in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The event featured both Texas and national legends, but the most notable moment of the night was a surprise appearance by Lady Gaga. Organized by the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, the event fundraised over $31 million from more than 80,000 donors.
