Official news on Stadium & Track

[danefan]

Apparently I'm the only one that thinks it was a complete waste of money and political capital to build JFF. OK, I guess I'm way off base then. But I'll just put my last word out on this - putting multi-millions into JFF was a mistake that has hurt the rest of the athletic department all to put the the lacrosse team in a better situation, which apparently means going 3-10. Great.

 

As far as the status of the football field - we know nothing more than we knew 6 years ago.

[uofalbany]

In my opinion, I'm glad we have the lacrosse facility. Whatever game I choose to attend at UAlbany, I'd like to have quality seating, in something that resembles a facility, not just a field with little league bleachers.

 

We need the same type of seating (like jff) at the softball field, baseball field, and the field hockey field.

In such an 'impressive' state as NY, I'm sure we would fund all of the SUNY university centers, their athletic programs, and their facility aspirations. Afterall, we want to be nationally competitive, attract the best athletes and students to our university centers, and keep NY students in the state.

 

Of course the state would do all it can to shape well rounded university centers, right?

 

I think any project like jff is beneficial. The problem is, it should have only been 5% of our total athletic facility upgrade over the decade. Instead, it's been about 95% of it.

 

We need a BIG stadium on campus. We've heard a decade of talking.

Is the only thing that mcelroy does is formulate schedules now?

 

Even if we build a 10k seat stadium, and the lacrosse teams stayed on jff,

how nice would it be to sit in the jff facility, with the brand new facility sitting in eye's view next door?

[danefan]

In my opinion, I'm glad we have the lacrosse facility. Whatever game I choose to attend at UAlbany, I'd like to have quality seating, in something that resembles a facility, not just a field with little league bleachers.

 

We need the same type of seating (like jff) at the softball field, baseball field, and the field hockey field.

In such an 'impressive' state as NY, I'm sure we would fund all of the SUNY university centers, their athletic programs, and their facility aspirations. Afterall, we want to be nationally competitive, attract the best athletes and students to our university centers, and keep NY students in the state.

 

Of course the state would do all it can to shape well rounded university centers, right?

 

I think any project like jff is beneficial. The problem is, it should have only been 5% of our total athletic facility upgrade over the decade. Instead, it's been about 95% of it.

 

We need a BIG stadium on campus. We've heard a decade of talking.

Is the only thing that mcelroy does is formulate schedules now?

 

Even if we build a 10k seat stadium, and the lacrosse teams stayed on jff,

how nice would it be to sit in the jff facility, with the brand new facility sitting in eye's view next door?

 

In theory I agree with you. However, the reality is we aren't going to get any of those things anytime soon. And that's my point. The priorities are screwed up. JFF should have been an afterthought to the stadium if for some reason we though we needed it (unlikely).

[YO DAMIEN]

The way I see it is that all of the other programs have suffered due to the fortune the lax team came into with the donation they received. That donation essentially forced the school to spent a large chunk of money it may or may not have other wise spent to turn the donation into the field we have now. While it is nice having that field it is not enough, and by no means lets the school off the hook for what our other facilities lack. Everyone can understand the desire to keep the JFF field lax only, but considering what the other teams who could theoretically use it have to use instead, it just seems foolish, stubborn and selfish to deny them access. To me the mere possibility of other teams eventually getting access to JFF is just buying the school time to ignore what really needs to be done...a true D1 facility for our now decade old D1 programs.

 

Another thought I'm having is that any project with the term "modular" attached to really scares me. The school has dragged its feet so much to get anything done so whats to say they don't complete "phase 1" (which includes maybe nothing more than a turf field and some temporary bleachers, which may not be any better than what we have now) and then drag its feet for another 5-10 years before "phase 2" even materializes?

 

It really is pathetic how the school keeps jerking us around and thinks it can buy itself time by making some unofficial "plans" that are murky at best. The athletes, students, alumni, and community deserve much, much more than even our best current facility (JFF). The school seems to think that an above average lax field can offset our downright embarrassing facilities for pretty much every other sport? I don't expect it anytime soon, but I really, really hope the school snaps back to reality and gives us all what we deserve an 8-12k BASE capacity, multi-sport facility that we as a school/community can be proud of for many years to come. That would REALLY buy them some time....

[Clickclack]

I continue to be dismayed by their reluctance to kick of a public fund raising campaign. If they had started something public 5 or 6 years ago, how much money could they have collected specifically for the multi-use facility by now.

 

They appear to be operating in complete silence and out of view of the majority of the UA alumni community. There is nothing in print, nothing on the website, virtually nothing anywhere to call attention to this project.

 

This entire project has been several mishandled almost from the get-go and at this point I place zero trust in people managing it. How many studies and how many HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of $$$ did we spend on these studies WITH NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT.

 

Disgrace! Time to start asking some tough questions, what did we get for the money spent. This whole thing MAKES ME SICK!

[Phoenix]

It really is pathetic how the school keeps jerking us around and thinks it can buy itself time by making some unofficial "plans" that are murky at best. The athletes, students, alumni, and community deserve much, much more than even our best current facility (JFF). The school seems to think that an above average lax field can offset our downright embarrassing facilities for pretty much every other sport? I don't expect it anytime soon, but I really, really hope the school snaps back to reality and gives us all what we deserve an 8-12k BASE capacity, multi-sport facility that we as a school/community can be proud of for many years to come. That would REALLY buy them some time....

 

I'm assuming (hoping?) this isn't what you mean..but it seems like you're directly accusing the 'school' (administrators?) of actively keeping 'us' (who is 'us' if it's not the school?) from getting a stadium. I can understand disagreements with strategies..but the 'school' can't just snap it's fingers..and poof..a stadium appears. No matter what the specific strategy is..the fact remains that the majority of the funding must come from the state (ie..legislature/Governor)..and the state has not allocated that money..arguably due much to the state's budget difficulties. Again..it certainly makes sense to object to/critique strategy..but I think it's quite unfair (and wrong) to say that the 'school' is somehow withholding a stadium from 'us.'

 

Now..all of this is moot if one of us wins the Mega Millions tonight and decides to be extra generous!

[Clickclack]

It really is pathetic how the school keeps jerking us around and thinks it can buy itself time by making some unofficial "plans" that are murky at best. The athletes, students, alumni, and community deserve much, much more than even our best current facility (JFF). The school seems to think that an above average lax field can offset our downright embarrassing facilities for pretty much every other sport? I don't expect it anytime soon, but I really, really hope the school snaps back to reality and gives us all what we deserve an 8-12k BASE capacity, multi-sport facility that we as a school/community can be proud of for many years to come. That would REALLY buy them some time....

 

I'm assuming (hoping?) this isn't what you mean..but it seems like you're directly accusing the 'school' (administrators?) of actively keeping 'us' (who is 'us' if it's not the school?) from getting a stadium. I can understand disagreements with strategies..but the 'school' can't just snap it's fingers..and poof..a stadium appears. No matter what the specific strategy is..the fact remains that the majority of the funding must come from the state (ie..legislature/Governor)..and the state has not allocated that money..arguably due much to the state's budget difficulties. Again..it certainly makes sense to object to/critique strategy..but I think it's quite unfair (and wrong) to say that the 'school' is somehow withholding a stadium from 'us.'

 

Now..all of this is moot if one of us wins the Mega Millions tonight and decides to be extra generous!

 

I don't understand WHY the majority of the funds has to come from the state. Is it really that far fetched to think that we could have come up with 6-8 million dollars by now in close to a decade if we had some kind of public fund raising campaing that would enable us to at least START on the project?

 

Looking back at the way this thing has been run, it's painfully obvious that there was no plan B or C after the state funding fell through. Asking for 60million dollars in any economic climate is a PIPE DREAM!

[danefan]

It really is pathetic how the school keeps jerking us around and thinks it can buy itself time by making some unofficial "plans" that are murky at best. The athletes, students, alumni, and community deserve much, much more than even our best current facility (JFF). The school seems to think that an above average lax field can offset our downright embarrassing facilities for pretty much every other sport? I don't expect it anytime soon, but I really, really hope the school snaps back to reality and gives us all what we deserve an 8-12k BASE capacity, multi-sport facility that we as a school/community can be proud of for many years to come. That would REALLY buy them some time....

 

I'm assuming (hoping?) this isn't what you mean..but it seems like you're directly accusing the 'school' (administrators?) of actively keeping 'us' (who is 'us' if it's not the school?) from getting a stadium. I can understand disagreements with strategies..but the 'school' can't just snap it's fingers..and poof..a stadium appears. No matter what the specific strategy is..the fact remains that the majority of the funding must come from the state (ie..legislature/Governor)..and the state has not allocated that money..arguably due much to the state's budget difficulties. Again..it certainly makes sense to object to/critique strategy..but I think it's quite unfair (and wrong) to say that the 'school' is somehow withholding a stadium from 'us.'

 

Now..all of this is moot if one of us wins the Mega Millions tonight and decides to be extra generous!

 

The school has made the decision to not insitute a public fundraising campaign hasn't it? If the stadium was a priority why then would they focus all the attention on obtaining funding from source that was clear wasn't going to provide it?

 

And I will completey disagree with you that the majority of the funding has to come from the State. Why?

[danefan]

Click beat me to it. Blackberry posting is hard.

[Phoenix]

I'm not sure your figures add up in that scenario..10 years to raise $6m-$8m for a $50-$60m project? You start the project..and then what? Hope to raise $6-$8m per decade over the next 50+ years to pay for the rest project?

 

I'd be interested to know of a SUNY construction project..and specifically athletics related..with a similar price tag..that wasn't paid for with a majority of state funds. I would imagine that list is pretty small..if there's anything on it at all.

[Clickclack]

I'm not sure your figures add up in that scenario..10 years to raise $6m-$8m for a $50-$60m project? You start the project..and then what? Hope to raise $6-$8m per decade over the next 50+ years to pay for the rest project?

 

I'd be interested to know of a SUNY construction project..and specifically athletics related..with a similar price tag..that wasn't paid for with a majority of state funds. I would imagine that list is pretty small..if there's anything on it at all.

 

The 60million price tag was the first idiotic thing about all of this...take a look at some of the other facilities being built around the country. They set a 60million dollar price tag on this and killed the project before it even got off the ground.

 

They tried to put together an aggressive state of the art plan with no idea how to pull it off, it appears they put 100% of their eggs in the "state funding" basket and now that it's fallen through they don't know what else to do. If by some chance they do know what plan B or C is or even have one, I hope the Fort Knox like environment in which they appear to be operating in is conducive to getting this done.

 

I hear top secret fund drives are REALLY PRODUCTIVE.

 

I'm mad as hell about how this has been handled...I can't be the only one.

[Phoenix]

The 60million price tag was the first idiotic thing about all of this...take a look at some of the other facilities being built around the country. They set a 60million dollar price tag on this and killed the project before it even got off the ground.

 

Sure..that may be..but that's still just a disagreement with strategy..hindsight's 20/20. Maybe the University felt that if they asked for $60m..then they might come out with $30-$40m. Obviously that didn't work..but that type of strategy isn't uncommon in negotiations.

 

I know this isn't something that will be solved by some comments on a forum..but I just wanted to pass along my disagreement with the infernece that the administrators are specifically and purposely keeping a stadium from us. I think that's kind of absurd.

 

And just for a point of reference when we're discussing how much money would need to be privately raised to pay for something like this..according to the UAlbany Foundation's current 08-09 annual report..the University raised just $2.8m total in unrestricted contributions, gifts and grants during that time period.

[Clickclack]

The 60million price tag was the first idiotic thing about all of this...take a look at some of the other facilities being built around the country. They set a 60million dollar price tag on this and killed the project before it even got off the ground.

 

Sure..that may be..but that's still just a disagreement with strategy..hindsight's 20/20. Maybe the University felt that if they asked for $60m..then they might come out with $30-$40m. Obviously that didn't work..but that type of strategy isn't uncommon in negotiations.

 

I know this isn't something that will be solved by some comments on a forum..but I just wanted to pass along my disagreement with the infernece that the administrators are specifically and purposely keeping a stadium from us. I think that's kind of absurd.

 

And just for a point of reference when we're discussing how much money would need to be privately raised to pay for something like this. According to the UAlbany Foundation's current 08-09 annual report..the University raised $2.8m total in unrestricted contributions, gifts and grants during that time period.

 

Yeh...I hear people are lining up to give to a stadium project they know NOTHING ABOUT...I mean seriously, who wouldn't be? Hey, at least the VERY PRIVATE fund raising campaign appears to be going "well".

[Phoenix]

That's $2.8m total..not just for athletics..not just for a stadium. Are you specifically withholding a donation to athletics for a stadium because there's not a huge fundraising thermometer next to University Field? Honest question.

[Clickclack]

That's $2.8m total..not just for athletics..not just for a stadium. Are you specifically withholding a donation to athletics for a stadium because there's not a huge fundraising thermometer next to University Field? Honest question.

 

There are small donors and then there is me...other then season tickets to both football and basketball I believe I've given to the university once or twice as I'm still a student, but to answer your question...YES, I have specifically withheld contributions because of what I perceive to be complete mishandling of the stadium project.

 

I refuse to give any money to something I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT! You may disagree with that position but it's how I feel.