Officials from Texas-based Baylor Scott & White Health and the Cowboys gathered yesterday in Frisco to announce details for a $100M sports medicine facility attached to the team's new HQ and practice facility, according to Valerie Wigglesworth of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. The facility, which will be called Baylor Scott & White Sports Therapy & Research at The Star, "will be part of the 91-acre mixed-use development" set to open in late '17. The first phase of the medical facility will "focus on athletic performance, injury treatment and prevention and overall wellness." It will include an "ambulatory surgery center, advanced diagnostic imaging, outpatient rehabilitation, physical therapy and a host of specialties." The center also will "offer concussion assessment and treatment using technology recommended through the GE and NFL Head Health Initiative." An urgent care center, pharmacy and offices for primary care physicians "will also be part of the first phase." The public will "have access to the same physicians, treatments and therapies that professional athletes use." Officials expect to "draw interest not only from the North Texas area, but also nationally and even internationally" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 6/16). In Dallas, David Moore notes one of the "more intriguing aspects" of the club's partnership with Baylor Scott & White Health is that it will "eventually allow the Cowboys to pursue" the NFL Combine. Cowboys COO, Exec VP & Dir of Player Personnel Stephen Jones "did nothing to downplay the idea that the Cowboys will try to lure the event to Frisco." Indianapolis recently "extended its contract with the NFL to host the combine" through '20. The team also "intends to put in a bid to host" the NFL Draft. Jones: "We certainly want to get the draft, and I think we're going to get our chance to compete for it. Our goal is to get as many world class things here in Frisco, in Arlington, that we can" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 6/16).
END OF AN ERA: ESPN DALLAS' Todd Archer notes today is the Cowboys' "final practice at Valley Ranch," the team's practice home since '85. When the club returns from training camp in Oxnard, Calif., "they will move into The Ford Center at The Star." While the foundation of Valley Ranch is "solid," it has "shown its age." In "some spots the roof leaks," while in others "bugs somehow fall from the light fixtures." Sometimes the power "flickers on and off." But the "stories it could tell, however, are legendary." Jones: "It’s more than just walls and brick and mortar. It’s the personalities and the people that have gone through the building" (ESPNDALLAS.com, 6/16).
