This past Wednesday was “Back to the Future” Day — aka the day that Marty McFly travels to in “Back to the Future Part II” from his then-present-day 1985. The film made many predictions about October 21, 2015. Some were startlingly accurate. Others, not so much. This got the Pipe Dream Editorial Board thinking about what Binghamton University will look like 30 years in the future — so hop into our DeLorean and take a look at what’s coming to Vestal Parkway in 2045.

Football!

BU will finally have a football team. We don’t know if they’ll be any good, but they’ll exist. The football field will be built somewhere Downtown. BU students will spend their Saturday mornings tailgating and cheering for the Bearcats. The local football talent is pretty decent, so maybe there is a chance we could build a competitive team.

Downtown

Campus will have expanded to Downtown. The University Downtown Center will be the oldest building in the new West Campus. Binghamton will have been gentrified to the point that it will basically be Ithaca. The bar scene will be more than just State Street; maybe Larry Shea will run a series of bars with his cats, speckled all over the West Side. We envision nightlife all across the city, with a variety of choices for students — no more State Street every weekend for four years.

University Expansion

The University will have claimed eminent domain over the houses between the soccer field and the Innovative Technologies Complex, where they’ll build a new housing community as well as — for the love of God — an enormous gym to accommodate our 45,000 students by 2045. Needless to say, between now and then, the construction will never cease.

Reputation

“Where’s Binghamton?” will sound like a much dumber question than it does now. Not only will we finally be the “Premier Public University in the Northeast,” we’ll be one of the “Premier Public Universities in the Nation.” Come on, we’re so much closer to New York City than Michigan is. That’s gotta count for something, right?

Basketball

Our basketball team will win at least four conference tournaments. We may get good enough to leave the America East and join a more prestigious conference.

No, you know what? We’ll have won an NCAA championship by that time, too. That’s right, the Binghamton Bearcats will capture a national title. There, we said it. Maybe we’ll beat Duke, or our local rival Syracuse. Keep this issue of Pipe Dream somewhere safe, because we’re making that call now. We’re dreaming big, because in 30 years, anything can happen.