Dome

[BKCuse]

The Dineen Family donated $15 million towards the construction of a new law school building. Syracuse University honored that gift by naming the new building "Dineen Hall".

I'm sure the Dineen Family would be thrilled if they were "dishonored" 20-30 years from now for more $$$.

Why stop there. You might as well disrespect the Archbold Family and the Manley Family while you're at it.

Surely you understand the difference between private family donations towards academic buildings and a corporate branding across our most valuable asset, no?
And please don't give me any "corporations are people" nonsense.

I'm sure the Carrier CEO admires your passionate defense of keeping his company's name on the Dome. Meanwhile he's laughing with his cronies about the non-stop branding Carrier gets despite abandoning the city of Syracuse and never even installing air conditioning.

 

[xc84]

You seem put a lot more stock in a 35 year old contract that was drawn up before the age of selling naming rights. My guess is if we hire a savvy lawyer we can get out of this ridiculous deal we're stuck with. If they paid 2.75M and we spend another 500M to reno I have to believe we can break that deal from yesteryear.

This is a large loss of revenue for the athletic dept and if we want to compete with larger schools with gigantic endowments we need every resource available.

I don't understand why some people seem to be afraid of moving forward.

The name is a small part of "moving forward". I would be happy if Carrier relinquished the name. I am not afraid of that at all. I would love a renovated dome. However, they are independent issues. It will take a lot more than a "savvy lawyer" to get a new name. SU has looked into options. It is well-publicized. They are stuck. Sure, there is probably some threshold related to changing the STRUCTURE that may allow for a change... but not just renovations. The dollar amount of renovations does not matter. Since we don't know what kind of changes are in store, I don't put my faith in a "savvy lawyer" over a standard gift contract of which there are many up on the hill.

 

[xc84]

Surely you understand the difference between private family donations towards academic buildings and a corporate branding across our most valuable asset, no?
And please don't give me any "corporations are people" nonsense.

I'm sure the Carrier CEO admires your passionate defense of keeping his company's name on the Dome. Meanwhile he's laughing with his cronies about the non-stop branding Carrier gets despite abandoning the city of Syracuse and never even installing air conditioning.

No one is defending Carrier. We are simply stating the reality of the situation. There is no difference between a private family donation toward an academic building and a corporate donation toward an athletic building. They are the same. And when this happened, everyone was thrilled with the donation. Reality is tough to deal with sometimes so we come up with all kinds of ways to avoid it when we think something is "not fair".

 

[Scooch]

I would much prefer that SU spend the money on hiring a team of fundraising professionals to bring our Athletic Department into the 21st century than hire a team of lawyers to get us out of a deal that, if extricated from, *might* land us $500K-1 million/year in naming rights.

The former provides infinitely more bang for our buck.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Surely you understand the difference between private family donations towards academic buildings and a corporate branding across our most valuable asset, no?

Surely you understand the difference between a naming gift bestowed upon a private university, and corporate naming rights which are sold by an NFL team or municipal stadium authority?

You're not in Corporate America. You're in Academia. Once a name goes on the side of a building, it doesn't come off. It doesn't matter if the gift came from an alumni or a corporate donor. And it doesn't matter if the money was donated towards the construction of a classroom, a library, a dorm, or an athletic facility.

The key words here are "donor" and "gift"

 

[HtownOrange]

One point not yet made is that IF Syracuse should fight Carrier to relinquish their naming rights to the Dome, there is an automatic diminishing of the value of naming rights with the Syracuse brand. People and corporations will be more careful going forward about gifting money (donations) to the University because the University can simply change its mind and resell the naming rights. Carry that across all of academia and naming rights will be of little value. Big donors want their legacies remembered in perpetuity, not for a five year deal.

The sports industry realized that selling naming rights for a period is more profitable than permanent naming rights. This is a form of advertising. Businesses use this as advertising, individual gift donors do not. That Syracuse U. sold the naming rights in perpetuity is something we will have to accept and move on. Adding to the name after a renovation is probably an acceptable compromise.

Syracuse is far better off keeping the Carrier Dome name than not in the long term.

 

[orangeinjersey]

Surely you understand the difference between a naming gift bestowed upon a private university, and corporate naming rights which are sold by an NFL team or municipal stadium authority?

You're not in Corporate America. You're in Academia. Once a name goes on the side of a building, it doesn't come off. It doesn't matter if the gift came from an alumni or a corporate donor. And it doesn't matter if the money was donated towards the construction of a classroom, a library, a dorm, or an athletic facility.

The key words here are "donor" and "gift"

If a scandal or some sort of moral clause was triggered, names surely come off.

 

[xc84]

If a scandal or some sort of moral clause was triggered, names surely come off.

Ok...let's go create a scandal at SU such that Carrier would give up the name!

 

[TexanMark]

May as well name it Ray Rice Stadium. School should never name anything after Jim Brown considering his past.

Why would Carrier renegotiate the deal absent a better deal for them? I don't know what the contract speaks to in terms of a rehab or a tear down but they shouldn't feel obligated to just renegotiate, arguably, the best naming rights deal in the history of naming rights deals.

I agree...that is why I suggested SU contact Carrier and tell them of the plans to renovate the Dome with A/C. Carrier should be motivated to do the HVAC for gratis to keep a competitor out of the building. Heck SU could even work with Carrier and build a learning laboratory on campus for the mechanical engineering program.

 

[TexanMark]

Our facility houses both football and basketball programs. You could absolutely get $1 million/year for Carrier Dome naming rights, if the right person was put in place to hammer out the deal. At least in my opinion you could.

I agree it is worth a few million a year. You gotta remember that NFL games get higher ratings but most games are regional. SU has at least half the hoop games on national TV...Football OTOH...maybe 1 or 2.

But...I doubt SU can recapture that...IMHO their best COA is to work with Carrier on the reno for a SOA HVAC system and some Academic cooperation for training students in HVAC design.

 

[TexanMark]

And about 200K cars a day (I have no idea what the # is) on a highly trafficked part of I95.

You can't see the Ruttie Stadium from the Interstate. The Dome used to be very visible from I-81...not so much anymore.

 

[orangeinjersey]

Ok...let's go create a scandal at SU such that Carrier would give up the name!

i meant a scandal on Carriers part, think child labor investigation at their mexico factory

 

[Full_Rebar]

You can't see the Ruttie Stadium from the Interstate. The Dome used to be very visible from I-81...not so much anymore.

Honestly I'm a bit shocked that Gross hasn't put giant Nike swooshes on the top of the Dome, or has no one at SU thought about that?

 

[TexanMark]

Honestly I'm a bit shocked that Gross hasn't put giant Nike swooshes on the top of the Dome, or has no one at SU thought about that?

I kinda think Verizon would be pissed at being passed over.

 

[longtimefan]

I kinda think Verizon would be pissed at being passed over.

Looking at this picture anew, and having seen how our AD operates, I may be persuaded that he more-or-less posed for this picture.

 

[Bayside44]

You can't see the Ruttie Stadium from the Interstate. The Dome used to be very visible from I-81...not so much anymore.

Lots of signs for High Point Stadium.

 

[longtimefan]

Lots of signs for High Point Stadium.

Will the connection between Rutgers and High Point be established in the public mind before the contract is up and RU goes hunting for a different sponsor willing to pay more?

 

[xc84]

i meant a scandal on Carriers part, think child labor investigation at their mexico factory

I am not sure a scandal on Carrier's part would null and void a gift agreement but I admit I have never seen this agreement.

 

[Bayside44]

Will the connection between Rutgers and High Point be established in the public mind before the contract is up and RU goes hunting for a different sponsor willing to pay more?

High Point is selling High Point and they get a lot of eyeballs daily.

 

[Millhouse]

I just saw Smoothie King Center on espn. It sounds like The Onion. How much can smoothie king be paying? Half off banana protein shakes for pelicans employees?

 

[Toga]

I agree...that is why I suggested SU contact Carrier and tell them of the plans to renovate the Dome with A/C. Carrier should be motivated to do the HVAC for gratis to keep a competitor out of the building. Heck SU could even work with Carrier and build a learning laboratory on campus for the mechanical engineering program.

or ... Carrier Dome with air conditioning brought to you by Lennox

 

[HtownOrange]

or ... Carrier Dome with air conditioning brought to you by Lennox

Or we could have the train whistle blow when we score "The Express, brought to you by Trane. Nothing stops the Trane at the Carrier Dome."

 

[BKCuse]

Surely you understand the difference between a naming gift bestowed upon a private university, and corporate naming rights which are sold by an NFL team or municipal stadium authority?

You're not in Corporate America. You're in Academia. Once a name goes on the side of a building, it doesn't come off. It doesn't matter if the gift came from an alumni or a corporate donor. And it doesn't matter if the money was donated towards the construction of a classroom, a library, a dorm, or an athletic facility.

The key words here are "donor" and "gift"

If you're so sure it's the wrong thing to do why has the University looked into doing exactly this as??? (assuming that's true)

IMO moving your manufacturing out of Syracuse and severely damaging the city's economy is more than enough of a moral clause offense to break deal.

Look, I like the ring of the Carrier Dome name too. It would def sound weird to call the Loud House by any other name but being sentimental ain't good business. It's a cut throat world to compete in the ACC with the likes of FSU, CLEM, ND and the rest of the P5's and we need to leverage every advantage possible. We're a small school. We'll never get the donor money that comes easily to other schools. We're killing our

The Dome is definitely worth more than 500K. I would guess at least 2M especially if we do a good job renovating.

I don't think the corporate name on a Stadium is anything equiv to a donor family's name - not even close.

I mean Carrier abandoned the city and the freaking stadium NEVER EVEN INCLUDED AIR CONDITIONING!!!! That's been a huge -U to every SU fan who's attended hot muggy football games or graduations

How any SU fan could stand with Carrier is mind boggling to me

 

[xc84]

If you're so sure it's the wrong thing to do why has the University looked into doing exactly this as??? (assuming that's true)

IMO moving your manufacturing out of Syracuse and severely damaging the city's economy is more than enough of a moral clause offense to break deal.

Look, I like the ring of the Carrier Dome name too. It would def sound weird to call the Loud House by any other name but being sentimental ain't good business. It's a cut throat world to compete in the ACC with the likes of FSU, CLEM, ND and the rest of the P5's and we need to leverage every advantage possible. We're a small school. We'll never get the donor money that comes easily to other schools. We're killing our

The Dome is definitely worth more than 500K. I would guess at least 2M especially if we do a good job renovating.

I don't think the corporate name on a Stadium is anything equiv to a donor family's name - not even close.

I mean Carrier abandoned the city and the freaking stadium NEVER EVEN INCLUDED AIR CONDITIONING!!!! That's been a huge -U to every SU fan who's attended hot muggy football games or graduations

How any SU fan could stand with Carrier is mind boggling to me

I don't know anyone "standing with Carrier", just reality.

 

[BKCuse]

I don't know anyone "standing with Carrier", just reality.

idk sure sounds like a lot of defending Carrier's interest to me - elevating them to the level of alumni donors and arguing in favor of maintaining the awful deal we made with them ... IJS

Sometimes you need to be aggressive and creative to effect change. Being passive and accepting the status quo never works.

To me this is one of those times

#BeBold