A rendering of the planned Baylor Scott & White Sports Therapy & Research at The Star. (Courtesy Perkins + Will)
The new sports medicine facility being planned in Frisco can trace its beginnings back decades to the shoulder injury of a high school quarterback from Arkansas named Stephen Jones.
“The first thing my dad did was call the New York Jets and find out where [NFL quarterback] Joe Namath got his surgery done,” recalled the athlete’s brother, Jerry Jones Jr., chief sales and marketing officer for the Dallas Cowboys. “If it was good enough for Joe Namath, it was good enough for his son.
“That message that I’ve heard my entire life really weighs heavily on knowing what the visibility of the Dallas Cowboys can do for sports medicine,” Jones said.
It’s the motivation behind the latest collaboration between the Cowboys and Baylor Scott & White Health. On Wednesday, officials gathered in Frisco to announce details for a $100 million facility that will be named Baylor Scott & White Sports Therapy & Research at The Star.
“There’s none like it anywhere in the country,” Joel Allison, president and CEO of Baylor Scott & White Health, told the large crowd gathered to hear the details.
The facility will be part of the 91-acre mixed-use development that will house the team’s new headquarters and training facility. The 300,000-square-foot sports medicine complex along Gaylord Parkway will be directly across from the Ford Center at The Star that’s set to open in August.
A rendering of the Baylor Scott & White Sports Therapy & Research at The Star. (Courtesy Perkins + Will)
“Our population health strategies are designed to support total well-being,” Allison said. “I cannot think of a better way to achieve this goal than with a facility like this one. It encourages you to get active, it helps you stay active, and then it gives you the opportunity to become active again after an injury.”
Set to open in late 2017, the first phase 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.
A rendering of the new Baylor Scott & White Sports Therapy & Research at The Star. (Courtesy Perkins + Will)
“We’re setting the standard for the future of sports,” Jones Jr. said. “It’s going to allow a one-of-a-kind facility to become a destination for athletes on all levels.”
The partnership between the NFL team and the state’s largest not-for-profit health care system was announced more than 18 months ago.
“We’re identifying new things every day,” said LaVone Arthur, Baylor Scott & White’s chief integration officer, who is also responsible for business development.
Frisco ISD and the city of Frisco, partners at The Star, will also benefit.
For example, Baylor Scott & White will provide a neuropsychologist for all varsity football games at the Ford Center at The Star this season. It plans to expand that to other sports and venues.
“We want to make North Texas the safest place in the country to play sports,” Allison said. “Nothing is more important to all of us than the safety of our youth as they compete.”
LaVone Arthur, chief integration officer for Baylor Scott & White Health, points out where the new sports medicine facility will be at The Star in Frisco. (Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer)
The company is also the first health system in Texas to partner with Fusionetics. The app-based program is geared toward optimizing performance, reducing injury and speeding recovery. It is already being used with some high school athletes in Frisco ISD. It could also potentially be used with city employees in physically demanding jobs such as firefighters or police.
The new building’s design includes a partial football field and a full-size basketball court for training and rehabilitation.
The complex will pair new technology with research and offer the latest equipment, including at least one anti-gravity treadmill. The machines cost about $55,000 each and use air pressure to reduce the impact while walking or running. Often used during rehab, they can help athletes maintain fitness when weight-bearing activities are limited.
Baylor Medical Center at Frisco is just down the road from The Star. Its team had been working on the idea of a sports village when the Cowboys started looking for a health partner.
As talks continued, “it really just started falling into place,” Arthur said.
Youth sports are hugely popular in Frisco. In 2011, Men’s Journal dubbed the city the Best Place to Raise an Athlete. The city hosts numerous events, from youth soccer tournaments to international gymnastics competitions. It is also home base for several professional sports teams: FC Dallas, the Frisco RoughRiders, the Texas Legends, the Dallas Stars and later this summer, the Cowboys.
Arthur said that when Baylor Scott & White considered concentrating its sports offerings in one facility, “Frisco seemed to be the perfect place for it.”
A rendering of the planned Baylor Scott & White Sports Therapy & Research at The Star with the new Omni Frisco Hotel on the left. (Courtesy Perkins + Will)
A rendering of the Baylor Scott & White Sports Therapy & Research at The Star. (Courtesy Perkins + Will)
