Angle for Phil Knight donation to PSU.

[5thAvenueVik]

Phil Knight gives $100M to Oregon. He has a fortune valued at about $5.0B. So how long does it take his invested fortune (working for him---less taxes) to earn it all back for him? If his wealth earns some 12 percent a year after taxes, then it takes about 2 months (time value of money). Vast amounts tend to garner higher rates of interest.

Though an alum of Oregon and Stanford, Phil Knight has three connections to Portland State: (1) He ran his original business, Blue Ribbon Sports, and had the good fortune to discover the Nike Swoosh design, while teaching accounting in Shattuck Hall at PSU, (2) His wife, Penny Knight, is a Portland State alum---she may have a soft spot in her heart for helping our underdog, darkhorse university, and (3) the originator of the Nike Swoosh design, Carolyn Davidson, is also a Portland State alum, an art student at the time .

So Portland State is the place that employed him during his business incubation years, provided his wife's higher education and produced the art student who designed his now world-famous company logo.

Portland State doesn't require $200M for a new basketball arena---it needs about one-third as much---about $67M. He could name the arena in honor of both his wife and Carolyn Davidson, perhaps with a copper alloy statue out front depicting the moment in time when he first approached Carolyn Davidson in the hallway of Shattuck Hall to discuss her drawing the now world-famous symbol. Call it "Knight-Davidson Arena", perhaps, in honor of these two honored alumna held in significance by Phil Knight's legacy.

 

[PortlandStater]

As much as I love college sports, in the unlikely event of a 67M donation to PSU, I hope the school will be smart enought invest the money in academics. I have seen a number of schools in my live and I have never seen a more driven and dynamic school (maybe because PSU is so young?). That's why PSU's reputation and student body have been growing every year despite a relatively higer ed-hostile environment. EDIT: Speaking of which... http://www.pdx.edu/news/16330/

That said, yes Phil, please buy us a new arena anyway. And a 60k-seat football stadium, just to annoy UO and OSU...

 

[5thAvenueVik]

Obviously, the goal is not antagonism, but PSU's natural progression. Oregon and Oregon State are decades ahead of us right now. We are no threat to them. /users/31/07/37/smiles/880372.gif

Except for its characteristic "sub-Coach Class" leg room seating and lousy PA system, PGE (Portland Glanville Entertainment) Park is passable at this point as a home football stadium. I sure look forward to the day when we have our own stadium, though. /users/31/07/37/smiles/594399.gif

Our basketball arena is clearly not passable. We need a quality 4,000-5,000 seat basketball arena with options to use the Glass Palace and the Rose Garden when ticket sales merit it. The opportunity timeline for remodeling the basketball arena begins when the Student Rec Center is completed next year. So we have at least one more basketball season in the ole Gym. My understanding is the Peter W. Stott Building will be transformed to house the Athletics Department. My hope is the tennis courts on top of it get redone as well.

 

[martymoose]

Obviously, the goal is not antagonism, but PSU's natural progression. Oregon and Oregon State are decades ahead of us right now. We are no threat to them. /users/31/07/37/smiles/880372.gif

Except for its characteristic "sub-Coach Class" leg room seating and lousy PA system, PGE (Portland Glanville Entertainment) Park is passable at this point as a home football stadium. I sure look forward to the day when we have our own stadium, though. /users/31/07/37/smiles/594399.gif

Our basketball arena is clearly not passable. We need a quality 4,000-5,000 seat basketball arena with options to use the Glass Palace and the Rose Garden when ticket sales merit it. The opportunity timeline for remodeling the basketball arena begins when the Student Rec Center is completed next year. So we have at least one more basketball season in the ole Gym. My understanding is the Peter W. Stott Building will be transformed to house the Athletics Department. My hope is the tennis courts on top of it get redone as well.

PGE (Portland Glanville Entertainment). That's funny. /users/31/07/37/smiles/880372.gif

I think you're spot on about the one more season in the Stott Center. One season, then in 2008 the plans will come out for the remodel of the Stott Center into Joe's Arena or something like that that will house about a 4k venue to see contests on Peter W. Stott Court. 2008-09 will be played in the MC most likely, then into our new place in 2009-10. Pure speculation of course. ;-)

 

[5thAvenueVik]

I believe it would be highly challenging to get Bill Gates to make a donation. Might there a workable angle to get Paul Allen to make Portland State a serious donation?