Stadium Facts

[GoSU96]

1. Univ of Phoenix - $455M - Retractable Roof, $63K 2006
2. Reliant - $352M, Retractable Roof, $71K, 2002
2. Quest - $430M - Covered Seating, $67K, 2002
3. TCF - $289M - Open Air, 50K, 2009
4. Rent - $91M - Open Air, 40K, 2003
5. Stanford - $90M Rebuild- Open Air, 50K, 2006
6. UCF - $55M Open Air - 45K, 2009

A 24K basketball arena -

1. Dean Dome - $34M, in 1986! 22K
2. KFC Yum Center - $238M!, 22K
3. Rupp Arena - $52M, in 1976!!! 23.5K (largest basketball specific arena in the US)

While the Dome was built for football, this time of year is it's heaviest use.

Between now and April 20th there are going to be 14 events between Hoops, Lax, and the Spring Game. And then there is the use as a practice facility and women's sports.

Does it really make sense to dump a facility that is already paid for and invest at a minimum $500M to have the same capabilities split between two buildings (O&M costs increase), or spend $250M and lose a great deal of usage with an open air stadium and a less than 20K basketball facility. Want to destroy the lax programs, go down that road.

Where's the business case to justify this investment?

 

[SWC75]

Archbold lasted for 70 years. The Dome with be 33 years old this fall. I suspect it will be replaced before 70 years but not before 50.

 

[TexanMark]

University of Phoenix should have a much better Football Team for all the money they spent.

 

[HtownOrange]

Archbold lasted for 70 years. The Dome with be 33 years old this fall. I suspect it will be replaced before 70 years but not before 50.

Good logic. I'm sorry, logic is not allowed on a fan forum board.

Seriously, I was at Baylor in 2011 (Floyd Casey Stadium http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Casey_Stadium) and at Oklohoma in 2012 (Gaylord Familily Oklhoma Memorial Stadium http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaylord_Family_Oklahoma_Memorial_Stadium), their seating was like the Dome's bench seating and both were much older. For all of the complaints, it is still one of the best venues for lines of sight, crowd presence, climate/field conditions. I agree, the Dome is sticking around for a while unless someone comes up with a couple hundred million to kick off a new stadium fund drive.

 

[Millhouse]

1. Univ of Phoenix - $455M - Retractable Roof, $63K 2006
2. Reliant - $352M, Retractable Roof, $71K, 2002
2. Quest - $430M - Covered Seating, $67K, 2002
3. TCF - $289M - Open Air, 50K, 2009
4. Rent - $91M - Open Air, 40K, 2003
5. Stanford - $90M Rebuild- Open Air, 50K, 2006
6. UCF - $55M Open Air - 45K, 2009

A 24K basketball arena -

1. Dean Dome - $34M, in 1986! 22K
2. KFC Yum Center - $238M!, 22K
3. Rupp Arena - $52M, in 1976!!! 23.5K (largest basketball specific arena in the US)

While the Dome was built for football, this time of year is it's heaviest use.

Between now and April 20th there are going to be 14 events between Hoops, Lax, and the Spring Game. And then there is the use as a practice facility and women's sports.

Does it really make sense to dump a facility that is already paid for and invest at a minimum $500M to have the same capabilities split between two buildings (O&M costs increase), or spend $250M and lose a great deal of usage with an open air stadium and a less than 20K basketball facility. Want to destroy the lax programs, go down that road.

Where's the business case to justify this investment?

i can't believe this all needs to be said but thanks for saying it.

it would be cheaper to bribe the whiners with unicorn rides up the hill. (we'd need the chip rule to make sure that people sit on the unicorns' back)

 

[OttoMets]

Good post, Go.

And before someone jumps in with the "but SU thinks that block is too valuable for athletic use," they currently control millions of square feet of developable space in equally central locations, none of which requires demolition, much less a hundred-million dollar stadium relocation.

Main Campus has 9 million square feet of developable capacity: four city blocks on West Campus, a large lot south of SciTech, a large lot adjacent to University College, and two large lots on University across from the new bookstore. That'll satisfy building needs/wants for the next half-century

 

[Chip]

i can't believe this all needs to be said but thanks for saying it.

it would be cheaper to bribe the whiners with unicorn rides up the hill. (we'd need the chip rule to make sure that people sit on the unicorns' back)

Less chance of falling off if you sit on the, well, ok, it's not for everyone.

If new stadiums are built, so much of them would have to be privately funded anyway. So I'm not going to hold my breath for my future outdoor adventures at Skytop or (worst idea ever) the State Fairgrounds.

Maybe Turning Stone will build for us on their property. We can be UConn and load up the students for a 30 mile bus ride to home games. The college experience!

 

[Faegan]

The one thought I always have when I go into the dome is I wish there was regular seating as opposed to the bleachers. In Godfather parlance... Leave the troughs, take out the bleachers. At least on the lower level.

 

[Jeepers]

Really comes down to what the proposal inevitably is. I don't think there will ever be a retractable roof. And I personally don't see the point in replacing stadiums unless they're really bad, or unsafe.

The one thing I'd like to see in a potential new stadium is a state-of-the-art seating conversion. Have the benefit of massive football seating, but make it so the basketball conversion is cozier and tighter. I'd rather have that than a retractable roof.

Paint the concrete floors orange. Maybe replace the bench seating. Redo the lockers etc. I think that could make the dome last another 20 years.

 

[GoSU96]

Less chance of falling off if you sit on the, well, ok, it's not for everyone.

If new stadiums are built, so much of them would have to be privately funded anyway. So I'm not going to hold my breath for my future outdoor adventures at Skytop or (worst idea ever) the State Fairgrounds.

Maybe Turning Stone will build for us on their property. We can be UConn and load up the students for a 30 mile bus ride to home games. The college experience!

That would be the only thing that would make commercial sense, other than the fact that infrasture like that is usually associated with top 20 cities for convention centers (ie thousands of hotel rooms, hundreds of restaurants), not upstate new york woodlands and farms.

 

[RICuse44]

There is no bad seat in the dome for football. There is no good seat for basketball. There is also no place else that can seat 35,000 for basketball. Fans show up for the bad seats and don't show for the good ones because of the product on the field for the last ten years. All of this talk will stop as the football team continues to climb out of the depths of the past.

 

[Timonen]

1. Univ of Phoenix - $455M - Retractable Roof, $63K 2006
2. Reliant - $352M, Retractable Roof, $71K, 2002
2. Quest - $430M - Covered Seating, $67K, 2002
3. TCF - $289M - Open Air, 50K, 2009
4. Rent - $91M - Open Air, 40K, 2003
5. Stanford - $90M Rebuild- Open Air, 50K, 2006
6. UCF - $55M Open Air - 45K, 2009

A 24K basketball arena -

1. Dean Dome - $34M, in 1986! 22K
2. KFC Yum Center - $238M!, 22K
3. Rupp Arena - $52M, in 1976!!! 23.5K (largest basketball specific arena in the US)

While the Dome was built for football, this time of year is it's heaviest use.

Between now and April 20th there are going to be 14 events between Hoops, Lax, and the Spring Game. And then there is the use as a practice facility and women's sports.

Does it really make sense to dump a facility that is already paid for and invest at a minimum $500M to have the same capabilities split between two buildings (O&M costs increase), or spend $250M and lose a great deal of usage with an open air stadium and a less than 20K basketball facility. Want to destroy the lax programs, go down that road.

Where's the business case to justify this investment?

The tricky part is that you're not building for tomorrow, but for 15 years for now. That sounds like the timetable for getting anything done there. Smarter to start planning/saving/allocating for it now vs. when it's a real need in 10 years. The answer could be new buildings or it could be modernizing/refurbing the dome, but some major capital work is gonna happen at some point.

 

[Millhouse]

1. Univ of Phoenix - $455M - Retractable Roof, $63K 2006
2. Reliant - $352M, Retractable Roof, $71K, 2002
2. Quest - $430M - Covered Seating, $67K, 2002
3. TCF - $289M - Open Air, 50K, 2009
4. Rent - $91M - Open Air, 40K, 2003
5. Stanford - $90M Rebuild- Open Air, 50K, 2006
6. UCF - $55M Open Air - 45K, 2009

A 24K basketball arena -

1. Dean Dome - $34M, in 1986! 22K
2. KFC Yum Center - $238M!, 22K
3. Rupp Arena - $52M, in 1976!!! 23.5K (largest basketball specific arena in the US)

While the Dome was built for football, this time of year is it's heaviest use.

Between now and April 20th there are going to be 14 events between Hoops, Lax, and the Spring Game. And then there is the use as a practice facility and women's sports.

Does it really make sense to dump a facility that is already paid for and invest at a minimum $500M to have the same capabilities split between two buildings (O&M costs increase), or spend $250M and lose a great deal of usage with an open air stadium and a less than 20K basketball facility. Want to destroy the lax programs, go down that road.

Where's the business case to justify this investment?

another way to look at it is to look at all the schools with giant piles of money that play in ancient buildings.

if schools with so much money that they have to set some of it on fire don't think it's worth it...

 

[Marsh01]

Great post. I completely agree and have echoed these thoughts as well. The dome is fine. Its not splashy or as nice as some of these newer arenas but why get buried in debt. Put the money into practice facilities.

 

[storange]

Agree, and just to add, from somebody that has watched college football in multiple stadiums, The dome is as good as it gets for being right on top of the action

 

[Timonen]

another way to look at it is to look at all the schools with giant piles of money that play in ancient buildings.

if schools with so much money that they have to set some of it on fire don't think it's worth it...

it's interesting because the old stadiums that big 10, sec and pac 10 schools play in lend themselves to erector-set add-ons for consumer and business (luxury box) add-ons. logically, that's not what we'd need (lesson learned from Rutgers/MD plus common sense)so a dome refurb with the goal of better customer experience might be what's in order.

 

[ElwoodJBlues]

Spend money refurbishing the dome. Hi-tech multimedia upgrades (they've done some of that recently), put in new bleachers, renovate the locker rooms, update the concourses with fresh paint and improve the "lobby" areas. Gut the suites and upgrade those, consider taking the second deck and creating a premium seating/club area ala the garden. It would serve as a great tool for alumni gatherings and to host recruits.

 

[supp]

1. Univ of Phoenix - $455M - Retractable Roof, $63K 2006
2. Reliant - $352M, Retractable Roof, $71K, 2002
2. Quest - $430M - Covered Seating, $67K, 2002
3. TCF - $289M - Open Air, 50K, 2009
4. Rent - $91M - Open Air, 40K, 2003
5. Stanford - $90M Rebuild- Open Air, 50K, 2006
6. UCF - $55M Open Air - 45K, 2009

A 24K basketball arena -

1. Dean Dome - $34M, in 1986! 22K
2. KFC Yum Center - $238M!, 22K
3. Rupp Arena - $52M, in 1976!!! 23.5K (largest basketball specific arena in the US)

While the Dome was built for football, this time of year is it's heaviest use.

Between now and April 20th there are going to be 14 events between Hoops, Lax, and the Spring Game. And then there is the use as a practice facility and women's sports.

Does it really make sense to dump a facility that is already paid for and invest at a minimum $500M to have the same capabilities split between two buildings (O&M costs increase), or spend $250M and lose a great deal of usage with an open air stadium and a less than 20K basketball facility. Want to destroy the lax programs, go down that road.

Where's the business case to justify this investment?

Dome is perfectly fine for football and sucks for basketball. The next stadium project should be a 25K basketball arena downtown with all the bells and whistles. I'll forgo the once or twice a year 33K+ crowds for club seats and psls. There's more money to be made there. The Yum! Center has probably paid for itself already. Making it 25K maximum attendance will also net you 2-3K more in season tickets. Game tickets will be hard to come by and we'll get the no.1 annual average attendance back from Kentucky. Getting the crowd closer to the action will make the game more fun for fans and tougher on opponents (I know, know...longest home win streak in the country...but still).

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Dome is perfectly fine for football and sucks for basketball. The next stadium project should be a 25K basketball arena downtown with all the bells and whistles. I'll forgo the once or twice a year 33K+ crowds for club seats and psls. There's more money to be made there. The Yum! Center has probably paid for itself already. Making it 25K maximum attendance will also net you 2-3K more in season tickets. Game tickets will be hard to come by and we'll get the no.1 annual average attendance back from Kentucky. Getting the crowd closer to the action will make the game more fun for fans and tougher on opponents (I know, know...longest home win streak in the country...but still).

The Yum! Center is $800 million in debt.

http://thevillevoice.com/2013/01/29/damning-new-report-questions-arenas-future/

 

[supp]

The Yum! Center is $800 million in debt.

http://thevillevoice.com/2013/01/29/damning-new-report-questions-arenas-future/

Woops! Scratch that then. And Syracuse ain't getting a NBA/NHL team to bail out the arena the 340 days a year it's empty. Didn't realize that the building is not UL property. And I certainly wouldn't be okay with taxpayers subsidizing SU's basketball squad. I'll live with what we've got.

 

[hoopsupstate]

The YUM center is losing $92,000 per DAY!

 

[rrlbees]

1. Univ of Phoenix - $455M - Retractable Roof, $63K 2006
2. Reliant - $352M, Retractable Roof, $71K, 2002
2. Quest - $430M - Covered Seating, $67K, 2002
3. TCF - $289M - Open Air, 50K, 2009
4. Rent - $91M - Open Air, 40K, 2003
5. Stanford - $90M Rebuild- Open Air, 50K, 2006
6. UCF - $55M Open Air - 45K, 2009

A 24K basketball arena -

1. Dean Dome - $34M, in 1986! 22K
2. KFC Yum Center - $238M!, 22K
3. Rupp Arena - $52M, in 1976!!! 23.5K (largest basketball specific arena in the US)

While the Dome was built for football, this time of year is it's heaviest use.

Between now and April 20th there are going to be 14 events between Hoops, Lax, and the Spring Game. And then there is the use as a practice facility and women's sports.

Does it really make sense to dump a facility that is already paid for and invest at a minimum $500M to have the same capabilities split between two buildings (O&M costs increase), or spend $250M and lose a great deal of usage with an open air stadium and a less than 20K basketball facility. Want to destroy the lax programs, go down that road.

Where's the business case to justify this investment?

The business case is the value of the property for academics. While SU has other space available, this ia a prime location. Just look at the building they are doing around it.

Sent using my Commodore 64 on Tapatalk 5.3

 

[GoSU96]

The business case is the value of the property for academics. While SU has other space available, this ia a prime location. Just look at the building they are doing around it.

Sent using my Commodore 64 on Tapatalk 5.3

I have a hard time believing that there is a case to be made for freeing up that space for the cost it will take to replace with equal capabilities.

If the Dome goes away, it will be replaced by a Rent/UCF comparable 42K open air facility and a 15k basketball areana.

Whoop de damn do.

 

[rrlbees]

If the Dome goes away, it will be replaced by a Rent/UCF comparable 42K open air facility and a 15k basketball arena.

No it wont.


Sent using my Commodore 64 on Tapatalk 5.3

 

[midloviking]

The YUM center is losing $92,000 per DAY!

That sounds like a federal government operation