Stadium

[UAFAN]

From The University at Albany Foundation Annual Report 2009-10:

 

http://www.albany.edu/uafoundation/attachments/Annual%20Report%202009-2010.pdf

 

John D. Bertuzzi ’76:

$250,000 toward the

Multisports Stadium

 

 

Private Support by Purpose: 8% Athletics

[Clickclack]

Interesting what someone posted in the other thread, that several parents feel like the school has more then enough to get past Phase I.

 

BTW, if memory serves Bertuzzi is a big wig, huge money. Huge thanks for his generosity, well done.

[Clickclack]

Just in case anyone has forgotten what the dream is...

 

[statefan]

John Bertuzzi was the starting quarterback 1973-76. If my memory is correct, he came the first year that freshmen were eligible to play varisty athletics and started as a true freshman.

 

On a different point, it always amazes me to see that George Hearst is the President of the UAlbany Foundation when we consider the many and well documented difficulties between the University and the Times Union, which go well beyond athletics.

[Clickclack]

Very recently I had an opportunity to ask about the status of this project and I was again assured that the project is still on target.

[danefan]

Glad to see Bertuzzi get some recognition.

 

He was the QB in early 70s and is one of the top energy traders in the world..........$250,000 is a rounding error for him. He also endowed the Bob Ford Scholarship Fund.

 

Wonder if he put any spiteful restrictions on his gift like someone else we know did? .

 

 

 

Anyway - I'm still waiting for any word on the bidding process. The Campus Arhchitectual Committee had an October meeting and the stadium was not on the agenda.

 

http://www.albany.ed..._2010-10-29.pdf

[B9j2j6s]

If they have the money then being quiet about building is probably the smartest/prudent thing. Figure the best time to start building would be around the summer (after graduation and the start of training camp). Their would only be a handful of students. This would avoid the ASP having a field day with negative articles (the TU would bitch about it but that's what they do). Most of the facility who would be up in arms would be either out on break or have been removed (Foreign Language and Theater). So staying silent on this issue for the next few months given the climate is the best strategy and probably to start building when no one is around is also a great idea.

 

BTW would it be easy/possible to put down a new field during the month of December?

[Clickclack]

If they have the money then being quiet about building is probably the smartest/prudent thing. Figure the best time to start building would be around the summer (after graduation and the start of training camp). Their would only be a handful of students. This would avoid the ASP having a field day with negative articles (the TU would bitch about it but that's what they do). Most of the facility who would be up in arms would be either out on break or have been removed (Foreign Language and Theater). So staying silent on this issue for the next few months given the climate is the best strategy and probably to start building when no one is around is also a great idea.

 

BTW would it be easy/possible to put down a new field during the month of December?

 

My thought exactly, coming out and saying you are building a 13mil stadium while eliminating programs would be a dumb move. Wait 'till some of this stuff settles down, and just start doing your thing without much fanfare.

 

I used to bitch about them not announcing anything, now I'm OK with it. It's a toxic environment, if Phase 1 is funded, no sense in making a bunch of hoopla about it.

[UAalum72]

BTW would it be easy/possible to put down a new field during the month of December?

Probably not the best time to dig if the ground is frozen.

 

The projected timetable for the stadium includes "Design Contract Award December 2010" with project design thru next September and construction contract awarded in January 2012. So while it's possible to start in winter, phase 1 will probably be small enough they could start at the end of April and still be game-ready by September 2012.

[Clickclack]

I'm not sure what I can say but the design contract has been awarded and is going through the necessary red tape in the state.

 

[Dane4ever]

If they have the money then being quiet about building is probably the smartest/prudent thing. Figure the best time to start building would be around the summer (after graduation and the start of training camp). Their would only be a handful of students. This would avoid the ASP having a field day with negative articles (the TU would bitch about it but that's what they do). Most of the facility who would be up in arms would be either out on break or have been removed (Foreign Language and Theater). So staying silent on this issue for the next few months given the climate is the best strategy and probably to start building when no one is around is also a great idea.

 

BTW would it be easy/possible to put down a new field during the month of December?

 

My thought exactly, coming out and saying you are building a 13mil stadium while eliminating programs would be a dumb move. Wait 'till some of this stuff settles down, and just start doing your thing without much fanfare.

 

I used to bitch about them not announcing anything, now I'm OK with it. It's a toxic environment, if Phase 1 is funded, no sense in making a bunch of hoopla about it.

[Dane4ever]

If they have the money then being quiet about building is probably the smartest/prudent thing. Figure the best time to start building would be around the summer (after graduation and the start of training camp). Their would only be a handful of students. This would avoid the ASP having a field day with negative articles (the TU would bitch about it but that's what they do). Most of the facility who would be up in arms would be either out on break or have been removed (Foreign Language and Theater). So staying silent on this issue for the next few months given the climate is the best strategy and probably to start building when no one is around is also a great idea.

 

BTW would it be easy/possible to put down a new field during the month of December?

 

My thought exactly, coming out and saying you are building a 13mil stadium while eliminating programs would be a dumb move. Wait 'till some of this stuff settles down, and just start doing your thing without much fanfare.

 

I used to bitch about them not announcing anything, now I'm OK with it. It's a toxic environment, if Phase 1 is funded, no sense in making a bunch of hoopla about it.

 

I don't mean to come off as the cynic, because I fully support the need for/benefit of a new stadium (for UA and the region), but I think it is naive to believe that if we remain quiet about this . . . progress, or development, or certainty, or whatever it is . . . until most students and the rebelling faculty here now have dispersed,then the project will not generate alot of flack. There are calls on campus now for eliminating football, or down-grading it to D-2 or D-3 status. The rant to "cut athletics, save money" (by diverting whatever state money the AthDept gets into the purely academic stream, leaving the AthDept to raise it on its own)has become more serious and persistent in the past month or so, and it is not going away, regardless of the time of the year. Some people are very serious about it, now more than in the past two decades that I am aware of. It's the same fallacy that politicans, CEOs, sports figures, celebrities, and others constantly fall victim to -- if we just don't let the press or others know about it, then no one will find out. The media and AthDept opponents, as well as irate faculty, make it their business now to find out anything they can use. I admit that, obviously, this particular moment in time is not the best for throwing the stadium into the pot of discussion. The only point is that we should be prepared for tremendous criticism, deliberate distortion (called "disinformation" in the espionage world), and self-righteous outrage by those who will oppose it. Someone . . .the UA president, the Athletic Director, big donors . . . someone is going to have to explain, and then defend, how the stadium would not undermine the rest of UA academic mission. The criticism about the stadium and the "waste" and "irrelevancy" and "wrong priorities," etc., will be very selective -- no one, for example, has yet to question why the rest of UA sees little if any $$ from the hundreds of millions that Nanotech brings in. I certainly might be wrong about that, and in fact, I would like to be proven wrong, but I don't recall ever seeing any figures of what Nanotech contributes to the overall UA.

[dslyank]

I agree with dane4ever. We are going to have to fight this battle eventually. IT IS NOT GOING TO GO AWAY. Hiding the stadium accomplishes nothing. Opponents and naysayers know about it, probably more about it than most of us bloggers. By being silent, all we are doing is giving the enemy a strategic head start. THIS IS NEW YORK STATE AND THIS SUNY THERE IS GOING TO BE A FIGHT AND IT WILL GET BLOODY. It is not going to go away, Neville Champberlain thought that of Hitler and if we learned anything from our "humanities" professors (who now claim we are trying to ruin them {but we are definitely NOT}); ignoring a problem is not going to make it go away. We need to get in the fight now.

[Dane96]

You guys are entitled to your opinion...but trust me...you are very far off. I have bashed the administration at times, and withheld donations because of the run-around...but trust me...don't fret.

 

Patience with this one....and I say that with an informed

 

And please don't ever compare this to Hitler and appeasement. This has NO similarities whatsoever.

[Clickclack]

I think everyone here want's the same end result. Phase I of the football facility/track improvements to be built. How we go about it is the question. I happen to be on the side that says, fight the battles that you NEED to fight to get what you want. Why engage these people in an unnecessary scrum? What will be gained? No one is hiding it and if people want to go to war on this the Athletic Dept. should be prepared to answer their questions. Otherwise, Phase I is funded, nose to the grind stone and go about your business.

 

I'm not naive to think that the people who oppose the AD don't know about this project, I'm sure they know plenty. If they want to push the issue, let them, just make sure we have a coherent response to their inquires. We had a person step up and give 250k recently specifically for the football stadium, which one of these blow-hards is gonna get up and say that those funds should be redirected to academics?