UTRGV and the City of Edinburg, in conjunction with the Edinburg Economic Development Council, have announced in a news release that they are entering talks to make H-E-B Park the official venue for Vaquero football when the inaugural season kicks off in 2025.
“We are looking forward to working with the City of Edinburg on the possibility of bringing UTRGV football to H-E-B Park,” UTRGV President Guy Bailey was quoted as saying in the news release. “If acquired, this stadium immediately provides our football program with an outstanding venue that could be ready for our 2025 debut.”
H-E-B Park, located at 1616 S. Raul Longoria Road in Edinburg, was previously the home of RGV Toros FC, before the club announced it would be ceasing operations effective Dec. 18, 2023. This left H-E-B Park without a permanent tenant.
The Rider spoke with Vice President and Director of Athletics Chasse Conque about H-E-B Park and its potential use as the permanent home of Vaquero football.
“Going back to 2021, we were very open with H-E-B Park being a very realistic and ideal option for us, as it relates to the proximity from our Edinburg campus,” Conque said.
UTRGV Athletics also considered looking into other stadiums in the Rio Grande Valley to host games.
“One thing we knew as we looked at starting football is that we had really good facilities throughout the Rio Grande Valley,” Conque said. “And so, when it came time to when we were gonna play our home football games, we knew that we had options.”
Conque said the commitment was to play at least one home game per season at Sams Memorial Stadium in Brownsville, which Conque referred to as “the other piece.”
“We talked about having two home venues and committing to playing one game a year in Brownsville,” he said. “… Both stadiums were definitely discussed as potential opportunities for home football games.”
The process of acquiring H-E-B Park is still ongoing; however, Conque feels confident about UTRGV reaching a deal for the venue.
“There’s a lot of moving parts,” he said. “It requires a lot of participation from a lot of different areas. But a big step … was the [University of Texas System] Board of Regents, and now, carrying on to just working with the city and the owner to make sure this is our permanent home moving forward.”
The Rider reached out to Roxanne Lerma, the director of Communications and Media for the City of Edinburg, who said that the city is not at liberty to discuss the topic at this time.
UTRGV will play a practice season in 2024 and will kick off its inaugural season of NCAA Division I FCS competition in 2025.
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