When good drainage goes bad.

My goodness.

they could always hope for a cold snap and play hockey

As I recall, Tech has "field turf"...

The will pump it out and play.

What is "field turf"?

They have grass, and they have to wait for the rest of the water outside to drain off before the field will do so.

Field turf is very expensive "fake grass" made from used rubber products.

It is much more user friendly than carpet, and is all the rage in college stadiums.

(Boise State's is blue...)

Huh, they need a retention pond..
only half kidding, which is probably not the insightful thing to do right now.
Grass fields have developed in recent times, so maybe there is a built in system under it if only there was a place to daylite to.
Can't tell, think I'm looking at a pump in the photo, but same deal, daylite to what?

So, which is it? faux grass, or grass atop a drainage system, or plain old grass?

I think grass atop a drainage system, but the entire city's drainage system is overwhelmed.

Right, like no daylite (or place to drain to).

or water polo

Wow. That looks like it's gonna take a BIG plunger to clear that one.

Trying to imagine future remedies..

pump to a water tower or raised water basin (yes, I know, there isn't one, and it would have to be sturdy).

Lubbock's flat as a pancake, which is part of the problem. Water really has no place to go.

Imagining some sort of basin that has a removable cover, the cover so that the rain doesn't just fill that, but with the cover removable for later evaporation., possibly connected to some kind of irrigation system for dry times of the year. Or maybe some underground tank system that also could be used for other-time irrigation, with a parking lot over it. Or...

(talking through my hat, just musing what could be done). Have stadia in these situations be built over a retention system, that would be usable for irrigation at another time...

Or put roof over stadium, not an attractive idea to me though it's done often at least in the building of new stadia. (What would Calatrava do....)

More musing..
build an open drainage channel that looks like a dry river bed most of the time but is a "water garden" or water feature during heavy rain time. That of course would require some surrounding land to place such a water feature and garden around it.

I think they did that in It's a Wonderful Life.

That's lost on me. I saw that decades ago. Guessing it didn't work out..

The dance in the gym, where the floor opens up and everyone falls into the swimming pool.

Ahhh, there we go...