SDSU Athletic Facilities Master Plan is now online

[JACKGUYII]

Re: SDSU Athletic Facilities Master Plan is now online

Woah, let's hold the boat for a second. Have you been to USF's new stadium??? It's new...but's that's about it.

As far as Augie's new stadium, it very nice, but let's talk apples to apples here instead of apples to oranges. Have fun getting 17K fans into their new stadium.
Considering the DSAC cost about $6-$8 Million to build and Augie's WHOLE stadium cost around the same...you can only imagine what a new CAS is going to cost that will hold a possible 25K with box/suite seating.

There's no other atmosphere in the State that even remotely compares to CAS on a Sept/Oct Saturday. I don't care what it "looks" like.
I'm all for a new CAS ASAP, but just get a little annoyed lately when someone who hasn't even been to a game at CAS in 10 years tries to say we have the 3rd or 4th best Stadium in SD...BS.

Go Jacks!!

Just because you can't sit 17,000 people into these new in-state stadium does not make them inferior. I agree there is nowhere in the state that has the atmosphere of CAS, however there is no better stadium in terms of physical plant than the new Augie stadium. Will there be atmosphere in the new Augie stadium I don't know and neither does anyone else until it opens. I get annoyed when someone states because it has less capacity it can't be as nice.

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: SDSU Athletic Facilities Master Plan is now online

I don't think that is the point JackGuyIII...nobody is saying the Augie stadium isn't a "nice" stadium. But your answer would then be that we should build a stadium the same size as their stadium, which obviously doesn't solve a thing for SDSU. If we are going to build a new CAS the size and format needed, it will take a whale of a lot more money...hence, it is going to take a lot more time as well. Until then, folks, it will just have to continue to serve it's purpose regardless of what "critics" say (and it has been serving that purpose for quite awhile), because the next facility built by the SDSU athletic department will be an indoor practice faciliy (estimated $18K or more). You can bank on that (unless somebody says I'll give you $30 million to build a stadium and put my name on it...any takers?)

[LakeJack]

Re: SDSU Athletic Facilities Master Plan is now online

I agree with Jacks #1 Fan. A decked out Ford Focus can be nice but it is no good if you need to haul your family of 7 and dog. So why compare it to your older Chevy Suburban?

[JACKGUYII]

Re: SDSU Athletic Facilities Master Plan is now online

I don't think that is the point JackGuyIII...nobody is saying the Augie stadium isn't a "nice" stadium. But your answer would then be that we should build a stadium the same size as their stadium, which obviously doesn't solve a thing for SDSU. If we are going to build a new CAS the size and format needed, it will take a whale of a lot more money...hence, it is going to take a lot more time as well. Until then, folks, it will just have to continue to serve it's purpose regardless of what "critics" say (and it has been serving that purpose for quite awhile), because the next facility built by the SDSU athletic department will be an indoor practice faciliy (estimated $18K or more). You can bank on that (unless somebody says I'll give you $30 million to build a stadium and put my name on it...any takers?)

Where did I say we should build a stadium the same size as Augie? I would take the same amenities scaled to the size the Jacks need.

[filbert]

Re: SDSU Athletic Facilities Master Plan is now online

I think that CAS as currently configured is no longer adequate or representative of where the SDSU football program is, or where it wants to be.

The West grandstand needs to be demolished and rebuilt with a new, modern press box.

The East stands need to be re-built to be permanent seating.

Better fan amenites--concessions and rest rooms, mainly--are needed.

Visitor's locker rooms within the footprint of the stadium is IMHO a classy thing to have on-site, too.

These can and probably will be done in phases, as revenue allows.

Personally, I'd like to see the east end closed off to form a full horseshoe of seating all around the field--maybe 30 rows worth of chair-back seating in the east and west grandstands, and 10 to 15 rows of bleacher seating around the south end under the scoreboard, seating somewhere from 16,000 to 20,000 when built out.

[22jack]

Re: SDSU Athletic Facilities Master Plan is now online

IMO, either the ADept. is going to need a "whale" of a donor come in or the SD BOR is going to have to loosen up on their..."all new D-1 funds must come from fundraising" attitude. I just can't believe that the SDBOR is blind to the positives that the D-1 move has brought to the campus as a whole at SDSU in the past 5 years.
Also, at some point the current and future student populations at SDSU is going to have to help out, just like at "most" D-1 schools, if there is ever going to be a new CAS.

I'm hoping that if anything positive comes out of USD going D-1 is that the SDBOR has double pressure put on it to change it's attitudes towards funding for D-1 athletics for the State's two largest Universities.

Go Jacks!!

Us needing a new stadium has nothing to do with going D1. We would need it anyway because it will not be stucturally sound in the future.

[propar80]

Re: SDSU Athletic Facilities Master Plan is now online

Us needing a new stadium has nothing to do with going D1. We would need it anyway because it will not be stucturally sound in the future.

I'm hoping the SDBOR agree's with you if the President has to go to them for $$$ for the new stadium. But I have a feeling the SDBOR's reasoning will have everything to do with going D-1 if they decide to turn him down.


Go Jacks!!

[Nidaros]

Re: SDSU Athletic Facilities Master Plan is now online

Hey I am one of the few posters on here who was around for Staduim for State which yielded the cuurrent CAS that is now inadequate. Staduim For State was the first project for the group of dedicated Alumni who they felt would be able to raise the necessary funds to complete a bowl staduim as the drawing protrayed. It was the first attempt, but one of the things that got in the way was the refusal to accept small donations in favor of an adamant position of multi year pledges. People refused to pledge and it got very nasty. One donor, Mr Coughlin and his 50k and the remainder about 300k came from student actitivity fees that also created an uproar in the then student population. (i am not sure of the precise figures, but staduim construction costs were much lower than they are today. Read VJ Smith "College on the Hill". Times have changed, but some things have not changed when we consider going forward with a new staduim. The most unchanged is the attitude in the legislature towards facilities paid for by tax dollars.

The Alumni Association and the Foundation were not as well organized and funded as they are today and that made it a problem in working with the alumni population and worst of all they had no experience in fund raising. So some bad tastes in certain alum mouths existed for a long time, and I AM NOT certain that some might still be out there.

I don't know how the current members of the SDBOR think, but I do think they might be reluctant to go to the legislature for funds for a new football staduim. Can you imagine Frank Klousek reaction and a few others? Not to likely to happen. So imo, its a SDSU community project and yes its going to take some deep pockets. Where they are and how much they feel in terms of generosity, is a mystery. The point is the Staduim for State committee made the mistake of ignoring small donors. I dont think that is likely to happen again, but yes big $$$ are needed, and I would think it futile to see them coming from the legislature.

[JimmyJack]

Re: SDSU Athletic Facilities Master Plan is now online

There is no way that the SDBOR is going to ask the Legislature for taxpayer money to build a football stadium. It just isn't going to happen. The Board rightly, I think, sees academic needs throughout the university system as its focus. I think they've done a good job, particularly in recent years, of advocating for academic improvements across the board.

When the new stadium happens, it'll be a combination of private money and some kind of long-term financing, with perhaps a combination of things including ticket surcharges to pay off the debt. You know there are smart people looking into all of those possibilities. And it'll happen before too long, but as Jacks#1 says, there are other priorities that come first. Absent a $30 million to $50 million donor, it won't jump to the top of the list for a few years. In the meantime, at least we can cram 16,000 people in Coughlin and everybody has a darned good seat.

I hope when we do replace Coughlin, we maintain the feeling that you're right on top of the field that makes it so fun to watch games there.

[propar80]

Re: SDSU Athletic Facilities Master Plan is now online

There is no way that the SDBOR is going to ask the Legislature for taxpayer money to build a football stadium. It just isn't going to happen. The Board rightly, I think, sees academic needs throughout the university system as its focus. I think they've done a good job, particularly in recent years, of advocating for academic improvements across the board.

When the new stadium happens, it'll be a combination of private money and some kind of long-term financing, with perhaps a combination of things including ticket surcharges to pay off the debt. You know there are smart people looking into all of those possibilities. And it'll happen before too long, but as Jacks#1 says, there are other priorities that come first. Absent a $30 million to $50 million donor, it won't jump to the top of the list for a few years. In the meantime, at least we can cram 16,000 people in Coughlin and everybody has a darned good seat.

I hope when we do replace Coughlin, we maintain the feeling that you're right on top of the field that makes it so fun to watch games there.

My mistake JJ. I should've put "long term financing" as the option that that President and the AD may find out they need from the State in the form of repayable bonds, and not tax payer money.
But won't the SDBOR have to give SDSU the yes/no in order to take on that debt for a new stadium??
I guess that's where I'm going back to the statement..."all expenditures associated with the move to D-1 will be raised by private donations" comes into play with the SDBOR and hopfully they have softened on this line of thinking.

[Nidaros]

Re: SDSU Athletic Facilities Master Plan is now online

My mistake JJ. I should've put "long term financing" as the option that that President and the AD may find out they need from the State in the form of repayable bonds, and not tax payer money.
But won't the SDBOR have to give SDSU the yes/no in order to take on that debt for a new stadium??
I guess that's where I'm going back to the statement..."all expenditures associated with the move to D-1 will be raised by private donations" comes into play with the SDBOR and hopfully they have softened on this line of thinking.

I am hardly an expert on the entire process, but based on past observations, both SDBOR and the Legislature have a voice in the approval process that involves facilities because as I understand, the legislature appropriates fund for maintence upkeep and utilities.

Also what you are speaking of in terms of D-1 move will be raised by private donations, is the specific policy passed by the SDBOR when the move was approved. One big stipulation as I recall was that student fees could not be raised to in order to finance budget operations in moving to D1. I do wonder how this policy affects current operations and was it a policy that affected the transitition period or was it an eternal policy? Some one on here must know the answer, or willing to take a stab at it. I could not find the policies on the SDBOR website so could not see the exact wording.


What JJ outlined as a likely scenerio for a finance plan, is what I tend to believe will happen, and I respect his take as he is in more conversation than I am with those in the know.

I realize the students are paying for the Wellness Center and I have no idea when that debt service ends, but whether the students could be called upon to build CAS NO 2 is a possiblity that may not a good idea even if the SDBOR policy permits such action. They did it once before in the 1960's so I dont think it would be a good idea this time around to ask the students for help with additional fees. Ticket surcharge seems to make more sense

[JACKGUYII]

Re: SDSU Athletic Facilities Master Plan is now online

If the only funding source is private donations than I don't think a new stadium will happen for a long time.

[Cowbell]

Re: SDSU Athletic Facilities Master Plan is now online

The Wellness Center is not viewed by the Regents as an athletic facility. USD copied SDSU's model and their students will get a new wellness facility courtesy of new student fees, too.

As much as people don't want to hear it, CAS will look about the same way for the forseeable future, Dykhouse Center excluded. 10,000 seats at CAS will have to do until major donors step forward to help because the money isn't going to come from students or state government.

[jacksfaninne]

Re: SDSU Athletic Facilities Master Plan is now online

10,000 seats at CAS will have to do until major donors step forward to help

OR until west stadium becomes structurally unsound, which, according to some previous posts, may be nearer than the foreseeable future.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: SDSU Athletic Facilities Master Plan is now online

OR until west stadium becomes structurally unsound, which, according to some previous posts, may be nearer than the foreseeable future.

I guess I don't get it. If a building on campus is not safe and has to be torn down and replaced do we go out and solicit private donations? Why is CAS any different as it has certainly serves it's usefullness. I don't think it realistic for their not to be some kind of shared responsibility between the state, students, city,user tax and private donations. I know that is how the new University of Minnesota stadium got done. We know the dome in Vermillion was not built with exclusive private donations if any?