Stadium Funding and UAlbany Flagship

[scrabbleship]

Kermit wouldn't have allowed this to happen.

 

I think that Kermit's tragic demise set UAlbany back a countless number of years, if not forever. Herbst's running off to Georgia rather than staying until a President was in place also was a factor too.

 

Would any of the 49 other states allow a key institution to stay in a state of limbo for so long?

[Clickclack]

I simply want to know how many DECADES it will take to get a president in here. This F'n state is so dysfunctional....they can't seem to do anything right.

[scrabbleship]

I simply want to know how many DECADES it will take to get a president in here. This F'n state is so dysfunctional....they can't seem to do anything right.

 

I could give a snarky reply like "Albany would get a president faster if the Capital District voted itself out of New York and joined Massachusetts or Connecticut and UA became a part of the UMass/UConn system" out of jest, but sadly it could be true.

 

UA's malaise has to be a perfect storm of bad situations: President suddenly dies, change of governors which leads to gridlock, interim leaves for her dream job with little consideration to the problems it would cause here, another change of governors on short notice. Any other college have this much bad luck?

[dslyank]

This whole thing and I do not know what else to call it, has been so frustrating. How can the state deny UA which NEVER has had a football stadium (what they have now can in almost no way be even called one); while granting funds to upgrade facilities which are most definitely newer and clearly superior already.

My question for this post is---Is there really a plan B?--What do we all do Now?--Do we simply wait to see what Dr. M has to say??

Help I am so frustrated. Thanks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You guys (and gals) are going to have to forgive me. I really am trying to stay positive, and because of that I am holding back what I really think is going to happen from here on.

 

Dude....just let it out!

You asked for it......

 

These are my feelings and are not based anything other then my gut. So feel free to write them off at will.

 

My feeling is that the stadium as we know it right now is dead. We cannot afford to wait another year to hope that we'll get it. That nice little picture that I love, will never come to fruition. Those with the power to make it happen have decided against it. Does it suck? Absolutely. Can we, as supporters of the university, allow it to stop us from helping the university move in the right direction? Absolutely not.

 

I think we (us and the university) should now move onto Plan B - upgrades to Unviersity Field.

We should be able to raise $10 million privately between individual and corporate donors and add that to some money from the city and county and I think we can still come up with a modest stadium that will suit us going foward for at least 10 years.

 

Is it the best-case scenario? No. But we cannot afford to sit around and wait another year. Earth needs to be moved and recruits need to see it moving. Whether its on a new stadium or a major renovation of university field, I don't think it will matter.

 

1. Either fix the track or get rid of it. I am in favor of fixing it, adding more lanes and making it the top track & field facility in the northeast. The state track & field meet should be in one place every year and it should be at UAlbany.

 

2. Start bowling in University Field on the Visitors side. One tier should be able to hold about 5,000 people from end-zone to end-zone. The first row of stands has to be high enough to be able to see over the track and the players on the sideline.

 

3. Finish the lockerroom renovation which will include upgraded meeting and film rooms and a better visitors lockerroom.

 

4. Field turf.

 

5. Scoreboard with jumbotron and video replay ability.

 

6. Now, if the politicians get off their a$$es and realize what this can do, then next year we get an additional $15 or so million to upgrade what is now the home side. The stands can come down from the top of the PE building directly to the side of the track, taking the road out of play. That will easily add an additional 7,000 to 10,000 seats.

 

We need to do something and if it involves years building in stages, then so be it. Sitting and waiting to have the "Crown Jewel of the NEC" is counterproductive in my opinion.

[MRSGDG]

I simply want to know how many DECADES it will take to get a president in here. This F'n state is so dysfunctional....they can't seem to do anything right.

 

 

I posted my thoughts in the president thread : http://bigpurplefans.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=4266

[UA_MA_2000]

x

[danefan]

Kermit wouldn't have allowed this to happen.

 

 

That is the truth my friend. That is the sad truth.

 

I'm not so sure I agree with the foregoing posts. What has happened in the past 24 hours is much more consequential than simply the loss of funding for our stadium. In fact, it is much worse for SUNY.

 

But, speaking specfically of the stadium, the stadium was not at the top of UAlbany's list for capital projects. In fact, we received funding for critical maintenance, the business school, and student union. Weren't those projects submitted as higher priorities than the stadium (the stadium was #4, no?)? I'm as ticked off as all of you, but UA is not the only SUNY school getting screwed. What has happened this week is much worse than us losing funding for the stadium, and I'm hoping someone picks up on it soon, whether it be here or in the media.

 

The stadium was #3.

 

What are you referring to here with what happened to SUNY's? The de facto designation of SBU and UB as flagships?

[Dane Pound]

I like Ms.GDG plan to start coordinating efforts for next year. I might be wrong but I'm pretty sure Stony Brook's first attempt at funding a new stadium didn't pass either.

[alum73]

I like Ms.GDG plan to start coordinating efforts for next year. I might be wrong but I'm pretty sure Stony Brook's first attempt at funding a new stadium didn't pass either.

 

I'm with you there. Maybe it's my age, but setbacks are a part of life which most of us will experience as we pass through our lives. We just have to continue the efforts and redouble them if possible. The construction at Fallon field is a positive sign which needed to get done, and is progressing. Our athletic programs have been hugely successful given our time in D1 and we have many good coaches and administrators in place. Hopefully we'll get a new president and will keep on progressing and get the rest of the facilities built in the near future. I've gotten past my initial disappointment on hearing the budget news, now I'm on to moving forward.

[Clickclack]

I agree with DP and alum73.....looks like it's time to redouble our efforts and look to next years budget process. Seeing how the stadium was #3 on the list of things the University needs, can someone tell me what the other items were? Have the other two items higher on the list been addressed in this budget?

[madDOG]

UA definitely got the shaft. It would be easier to take if the athletic appropriations for other SUNY campuses were axed as well, but clearly they weren't. Nice to see our legislature thinking so highly of their most successful Division 1 campus. Bruno should have been our partner on this.

 

On another note, that better be one helluva campus center. $30MM?!

[danefan]

It's official:

 

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp...wsdate=4/9/2008

"It is dead in the water," Kevin Frazier said as legislators wrapped up the $121.7 billion budget. "I can say that with all confidence. It's not going to happen this year."

 

The Senate and the governor denied the Assembly's request for $36.5 million to build a 10,000- to 15,000-seat stadium on the UAlbany campus.

 

"Our message is we needed a partner to get this done," Frazier said. "We just didn't get it done on this one."

 

***

 

He said there are no post-budget options to get UAlbany the funding this year.

[MRSGDG]

eeing how the stadium was #3 on the list of things the University needs, can someone tell me what the other items were? Have the other two items higher on the list been addressed in this budget?

 

Found that post from GDG in another thread:

 

Very true. It's a bid odd that many people on this board seem to be attacking the Governor when UAlbany's own governance body listed a new football stadium as only the third capital budget priority for FY09, behind a new campus center and a new business building.

[danefan]

Seeing how the stadium was #3 on the list of things the University needs, can someone tell me what the other items were? Have the other two items higher on the list been addressed in this budget?

 

Yes. #1 was business school and #2 was campus center. Both were addressed.

 

Like I said in my original post, I am happy UA got these things.

 

What pisses me off is that SBU got $26 million for athletic renovations for their recently built facilties. Their facilities are FINE!

[danefan]

Fiore has secured $30 million from New York State for athletic facility renovations to the Stony Brook University Basketball Arena, Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium and various other athletic facilities. In December 2003, Stony Brook retained HOK, the premier sports architectural firm in the nation, to formulate and develop a master plan for the future of Stony Brook athletic facilities. The blueprint has already begun to take hold: the baseball/softball complex received a facelift with the addition of new bleachers and press boxes, the strength and conditioning facility was renovated and expanded, the Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium is going to have a $6 million expansion that will include increasing seating by 2,000 and new Club and V.I.P. seating. Additionally a $20 million renovation of the Stony Brook University Basketball arena will commence in Spring 2008 as well as a $1.2 million renovation to the Pritchard Gymnasium complex. The football, men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse and visiting team locker rooms in LaValle Stadium were recently redesigned and enhanced for $1,000,000.

 

 

Yet our fans sit on wooden bleachers a half mile from the field.

 

Tell me what happened to allow this disparity?