The Waco, Texas property opened in 2014 inside the new $266 million McLane Stadium at Baylor University. Owner/operator ClubCorp predicted the club would have 1,749 members by the end of year two, but it now has 1,932 members, 128 of whom have joined since the beginning of 2016.
The Waco (Texas) Tribune-Herald has highlighted the successful growth of Baylor Club, located inside McLane Stadium at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
As of January, Mike Mosel became the General Manager of the ClubCorp property, succeeding Brandon Millares, who received a promotion to regional manager for ClubCorp and General Manager of the Citrus Club in Orlando, Fla., his home state, the Tribune-Herald reported.
“Technically, he is my boss, and he definitely continues to know what’s going on in Waco. He has a hand in the operation,” said Mosel, who previously served as General Manager of the University of Texas Club, another ClubCorp property, for 13 years.
Mosel said he has sizable shoes to fill but looks forward to the challenge of keeping the Baylor Club’s numbers near the top of the company charts, the Tribune-Herald reported.
The club began operating in 2014, the same year the Baylor football team played its first season in its new $266 million stadium. It offers lunch and dinner dining opportunities under the direction of executive chef Jon Schilling and sous-chef Jon Hogg; space and seating for special events such as Easter brunch on Sunday, for which it had received 700 reservations by midday Friday; and a panoramic view of the brilliantly green playing field, the Tribune-Herald reported.
ClubCorp originally predicted the Baylor Club would have 1,749 members by the end of year two, but now has 1,932 members, 128 who have joined since the beginning of 2016, the Tribune-Herald reported.
“We have 47 clubs in our business and sports club division, which includes Baylor Club, and only five or six have passed 2,000 members,” Mosel said.
He added that the UT Club located at Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium has about 3,200 members, the Tribune-Herald reported.
“The most eye-opening feature of the Baylor Club is how busy it stays,” Mosel said. “We can easily have 200 guests for dinner on Friday and Saturday nights and 150 for a typical lunch. If the Baylor Club is averaging 125 for dinner, the UT Club is averaging 50 or 60. I can comfortably say we have twice as many diners.”
Mosel said the Baylor Club’s newness and the excitement over McLane Stadium are partly responsible for the club’s success. Members of the UT Club have more entertainment and dining options in Austin, and the city has become so congested with traffic that members who live in the suburbs often don’t want to drive back downtown after work, the Tribune-Herald reported.
Still, the Baylor Club’s vitality proved “eye-opening,” and a source of jealousy among staffers at other ClubCorp operations, the Tribune-Herald reported.
“The club won ClubCorp’s silver award in 2014 and its gold award in 2015, which is based on scores in about eight categories, including member surveys, financial performance and member retention,” Mosel said. “The UT Club won a silver award in 2015, but again, the Baylor Club was the talk of the company.”
Mosel was born in Corpus Christi, grew up in San Marcos and has family in south Austin. He had never held a job farther north than Austin, and he was happy to oversee the UT Club. He had received offers to move elsewhere within the ClubCorp system but never seriously considered relocating. But he bit at the carrot that Waco and the Baylor Club represented, the Tribune-Herald reported.
“Everybody I’ve met in Waco, and not just at the club, are the nicest people I’ve ever met,” Mosel said. “I’m used to ‘Texas friendly,’ but people around here are unbelievable.”
ClubCorp leases space for the Baylor Club from the Baylor Waco Stadium Authority, a city-appointed board that provides general oversight of non-Baylor events at the stadium. Waco City Council approved creation of the authority in November 2013, while the stadium was still under construction, the Tribune-Herald reported.
“The Baylor Waco Stadium Authority represents another important step forward in the ongoing partnership between the City of Waco and Baylor University,” Waco Mayor Malcolm Duncan Jr. said at the time. “The action by the city council helps ensure that the stadium will provide a valuable service for the citizens of our community.”
The Baylor Club provides access to a ballroom for private events, as well as a couple of glass-enclosed “touchdown” rooms where members can socialize or conduct business. When Baylor is playing at home, the 1,200 fans with seats in the club level of the stadium have access to the facility, the Tribune-Herald reported.
Most prospects wanting to join the Baylor Club pay a $200 initiation fee, while Baylor faculty and staff members pay $50. Faculty and staff members pay a base membership of $26 a month, while a resident membership fetches $71 a month. An upgrade of the resident membership runs $126 a month. Members taking the upgrade receive complimentary dining and golf privileges at other ClubCorp- operated facilities, the Tribune-Herald reported.
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