Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena Won't Be Ready In Time For Start of TCU Basketball Seasons

TCU announced earlier Tuesday that the Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena, formerly the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, will not open in time for the start of TCU's men and women's basketball teams to play their first few games in the new digs.

Instead, they'll play their games in the TCU Rec Center and Wilkerson-Greines, where they played for the entirety of their 2014-15 seasons.

It was suspected that the stadium was behind schedule, due to the torrential rain that hammered Fort Worth for most of the spring, but TCU had been optimistic that construction would be completed on time. Here's the full release from the school:

TCU Athletics has announced that the opening men’s and women’s basketball games for the Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena will take place on Dec. 20, 2015.

“We were notified today that the Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena will not be ready for use when our basketball programs open their seasons next Friday (Nov. 13),” TCU director of intercollegiate athletics Chris Del Conte said. “We were met with some unforeseen circumstances, including weather conditions over the past few weeks which caused delays. We have now chosen Dec. 20 as the opening date for our new basketball home. With both our men and women having home games that day, our student-athletes from those two programs will both be able to share in the historic opening of the Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena.

“With our new Hall of Fame, team spaces, courtside club, food courts, wider concourses, new video board and additional restrooms, we are more confident than ever that we will have the finest facility in the Big 12. We want to make sure we do this right. We sincerely apologize for the delay to our fans of both programs as well as the many donors who have turned our dream of a new arena into a reality. When opened next month, the Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena will enhance our student-athlete experience as well as being a tremendous source of pride for the TCU and Fort Worth communities."

The opening event in the Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena will be the Dec. 19 Fall Commencement. On the following day, Dec. 20, the TCU men’s and women’s basketball programs will make their Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena debut with a doubleheader. The men face Abilene Christian at 1 p.m., while the women will host Southern Utah at 3:30 p.m.

The Nov. 13 season openers for both the TCU men and women will both be played on campus in the University Recreation Center. The women will host Sam Houston State at 6 p.m., while the men face Southeastern Louisiana at 8:30 p.m. All other men’s games, prior to the Dec. 20 Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena opening, will be played at the Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center in Fort Worth. The women will continue to play their games temporarily at the University Recreation Center.

Season-ticket holders may use their season tickets for admission into all games played at Wilkerson-Greines and the University Rec Center. All seating at both venues will be General Admission.