Stadium Upgrades

[ZachTheZip]

http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/12238961.htmlZips' stadium to gain building and upgrades Cost climbs with addition of two-story structure, brick facade By Carol Biliczky Beacon Journal staff writerPublished on Friday, Dec 07, 2007 The University of Akron has added bells and whistles to its new stadium, increasing the construction cost from $55 million to $61.5 million.Athletic Director Mack Rhoades said the extras will improve the looks and usability of the long-awaited multipurpose facility southeast of campus.''You get a chance to build a stadium one time,'' Rhoades said. ''We thought these alternatives were very, very important.''In addition to the construction costs, the university will spend $2 million to $3 million to finance the project. That will bring the total cost to about $64 million, said John Case, UA's chief financial officerThe university unveiled the plans for the stadium in August. It will accommodate 30,000 people seated and standing, be used for a wide range of events and will bring football back to campus for the first time in almost 50 years. The Zips now play at the aging Rubber Bowl several miles away.The most visible new add-on might be a 16,800-square-foot facility at the north end of the stadium. The first floor will be for football game-day activities, sports medicine offices and staging areas for special events.The use of the second floor — which will be on the same elevation as Vine Street to the north — hasn'tbeen determined, Rhoades said. ''Potentially we could program that for various sports teams,'' he said.UA administrators added a back side to the scoreboard on the south side of the field facing East Exchange Street. It will display announcements of UA events and messages of advertisers, so it will bring money into the university.Administrators also added premium, movable glass doors to the loges instead of fixed glass panels with open-air hoppers on top. And they chose to cover the east side of the stadium with a brick and stone facade.The latter will improve the look of the facility when viewed from the new, $32.5 million residence hall that will be going up next to it at the same time, said Ted Curtis, UA vice president for capital planning and facilities management.''It will have the same architectural style as the west side of the stadium,'' Curtis said. ''We felt compelled to do this. We felt these items were needed.''The university will pay for the extras by selling more bonds, Rhoades said.In addition, UA is continuing to market naming rights and to sell elements of virtually every square inch of the facility to drum up $30 million of the total cost. Luxury suites seating 16 cost $20,000 a year; loge boxes with four seats, $5,000 a year; and club seats, $1,000 a year, plus much more.Rhoades said about $21 million had been donated or pledged and that he is ''hopeful at this time'' that the university will meet its mark.The largest gift to date, $10 million, came from Gary and Karen Taylor of InfoCision Inc.; the second largest, from Summa Health System, which gave $5 million.The university will pay back the bonds in part with the donations, some of which will be spread over many years, Rhoades said.In the meantime, UA trustees have approved architectural plans but have yet to award any bids.Curtis said the first round of bids — for large, custom-made steel columns and beams and for excavating, grading and foundation work — could be considered at Wednesday's trustee meeting.

[GP1]

"The University will pay for the extras by selling bonds..."For those of you who may not understand this, bonds = debt. Selling bonds could be a sign that money is not coming in fast enough. Selling bonds is not a good thing.This means that the University has added to the sea of red ink the Athletic Department swims in annually. Since bonds mature over a period of time, the University is gambling they will not only reduce the existing red ink, but also, the stadium will produce enough revenue to reduce the operating budget short falls and pay off the bonds in the future. Why am I feeling more cynical than usual?Over the next 20 years, this new stadium could either be the best thing ever to happen to UofA, or an albatross around the neck of the University. I don't see a middle ground.

[ZachTheZip]

When it was revealed, they stated that the stadium would pay for itself over a period of time thanks to the luxury boxes being ridiculously expensive, and the ability to host events like HS football and concerts. Selling out the stadium with better competition at home can't hurt. I'm cautiously optimistic about the whole thing, and as a fan who attends most games, anything on campus is better than the Rubber Bowl. If they really wanted to start making money with it, they'd sell beer to entice all the fraternity and sorority kids to the games, but that depends on whether they want to keep their status as a dry campus.

[FMR]

If they really wanted to start making money with it, they'd sell beer to entice all the fraternity and sorority kids to the games

From the mouths of babes... selling beer to college age kids will not pay for a stadium. Don't students get in free? Do you realize how much the beer would cost to fund a stadium? After the first game students would quit coming because the beer cost too much.

Rhoades said about $21 million had been donated or pledged and that he is ''hopeful at this time'' that the university will meet its mark.

Two things bother me about this statement. First, athletics seems to be stuck on $21 million, which is where the figure was when the AD came to town two years ago. Second, anytime an AD is quoted as "hopeful" instead of optimistic sends up red flags.

they stated that the stadium would pay for itself over a period of time thanks to the luxury boxes being ridiculously expensive, and the ability to host events like HS football and concerts. Selling out the stadium...

The key is selling out the stadium. That is the proposal of athletics, that they will sell out the stadium and bring in enough money every year to pay off the bonds and have enough for operating expenses. So, are you prepared to pay the price of what the ticket will be to support this project? And if you are, will you go and recruit 10 other people to join you? If you want this project to be successful, you had better get to work now because athletics is counting on you to make it happen...

[akronad]

More than likely, beer will be available to purchase in the new facility. The reason it is not sold inside at the RB, is because the RB is not up to code.(i.e. eneven steps, no hand rails, etc.)

[you am i]

"The University will pay for the extras by selling bonds..."For those of you who may not understand this, bonds = debt. Selling bonds could be a sign that money is not coming in fast enough. Selling bonds is not a good thing.This means that the University has added to the sea of red ink the Athletic Department swims in annually. Since bonds mature over a period of time, the University is gambling they will not only reduce the existing red ink, but also, the stadium will produce enough revenue to reduce the operating budget short falls and pay off the bonds in the future. Why am I feeling more cynical than usual?Over the next 20 years, this new stadium could either be the best thing ever to happen to UofA, or an albatross around the neck of the University. I don't see a middle ground.

I have always been under the impression that using bonds to raise revenue for capital improvements for atheltic facilities at public universities is fairly common. A quick Google search shows that many schools that have recently built or renovated their stadiums have used bonds, including Iowa, Central Florida, Marshall, Tennessee, Texas, Wyoming, Illinois, and Florida Intl. I'm sure there are many more, but I stopped looking after a minute.

[g-mann17]

"The University will pay for the extras by selling bonds..."For those of you who may not understand this, bonds = debt. Selling bonds could be a sign that money is not coming in fast enough. Selling bonds is not a good thing.

For those of you not keeping up, they have said from the get go that half of the value of the stadium would be financed using bonds. So this is not new news. It's old news. Also for the "21 million in donations" not moving up. Until they have the money and not just a committment from people they are not going to announce additional donations.

[skip-zip]

I'm always hesitant when I hear the words "multi purpose". I was around when we built the JAR, and we all know now what can happen when we try to incorporate other uses into a facility like this. I hope they don't lose their focus....this is a FOOTBALL stadium, and nothing more.

[scottditzen]

I would think that beer sales mean a lot of revenue to Jacobs Field, Browns Stadium and the Q. I don't understand why would the new stadium on campus should be any different from those venues. Sports fans in northeast Ohio have proven time and time again that they will pay ridiculous markup for alcohol. There's no problem getting beer at Ohio State.

[ziptrumpet87]

I'm always hesitant when I hear the words "multi purpose". I was around when we built the JAR, and we all know now what can happen when we try to incorporate other uses into a facility like this. I hope they don't lose their focus....this is a FOOTBALL stadium, and nothing more.

I'm thinking the "multi-purpose" building is part of what the band has been lobbying for... a warmup/setup space for game day which can be used for other things.

[GP1]

"The University will pay for the extras by selling bonds..."For those of you who may not understand this, bonds = debt. Selling bonds could be a sign that money is not coming in fast enough. Selling bonds is not a good thing.This means that the University has added to the sea of red ink the Athletic Department swims in annually. Since bonds mature over a period of time, the University is gambling they will not only reduce the existing red ink, but also, the stadium will produce enough revenue to reduce the operating budget short falls and pay off the bonds in the future. Why am I feeling more cynical than usual?Over the next 20 years, this new stadium could either be the best thing ever to happen to UofA, or an albatross around the neck of the University. I don't see a middle ground.

I have always been under the impression that using bonds to raise revenue for capital improvements for atheltic facilities at public universities is fairly common. A quick Google search shows that many schools that have recently built or renovated their stadiums have used bonds, including Iowa, Central Florida, Marshall, Tennessee, Texas, Wyoming, Illinois, and Florida Intl. I'm sure there are many more, but I stopped looking after a minute.

Good search. I'm sure all of those other schools are not in red ink.My understanding is UofA is using tax money to pay for the stadium because they are building dorms as well. I'm cool with that. I'm just concerned the bonds will be difficult to pay off.

[GP1]

Also for the "21 million in donations" not moving up. Until they have the money and not just a committment from people they are not going to announce additional donations.

They can't buy anything with committments. They need to get out there and close these deals.....and soon.My wife is an accountant and I am in sales. She always reminds me that a sale is not complete until the customers check clears the bank. We need to get checks clearing the bank.