Hornet Stadium Renovation 🏟

[Green Cookie Monster]

Orr has made some good hires, but nothing else. Not a Capital fundraiser for sure.

I think the only way anything ever gets done is if the facility is deemed not earthquake/structurally safe and fails code.

Nelsen has his head so far up the Woke agenda's ass, he is just waiting for retirement. No vision, just keep in line with the narrative.

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

Orr has made some good hires, but nothing else. Not a capital fundraiser for sure.

I think the only way anything ever gets done is if the facility is deemed not earthquake/structurally safe and fails code.

Nelsen has his head so far up the Woke agenda's ass, he is just waiting for retirement. No vision, just keep in line with the narrative spewed by no-nuts newsome.

 

[Kadeezy]

Orr has made some good hires, but nothing else. Not a Capital fundraiser for sure.

I think the only way anything ever gets done is if the facility is deemed not earthquake/structurally safe and fails code.

Nelsen has his head so far up the Woke agenda's ass, he is just waiting for retirement. No vision, just keep in line with the narrative spewed by no-nuts newsome.

I did extend an invite to Dr. Nelsen to join SacBuzz for a conversation about facilities. What if he actually checked in

 

[HornetStepchild]

I've had it up to here with Robert Nelsen. A used car salesperson, a bartender, a rideshare driver, a 13-year-old or a prison guard would be better suited to be Sac State's president. Dr. Nelsen is no different than Ron Burkle and the Maloof family. Although I like the hires Mark Orr has made, I mentioned back when I was EventCenterNow that he's no Kevin Johnson in terms of getting people together toward a common goal. Then again, I'm not suggesting Mr. Orr should enlist the ex-mayor's help due to his "appetite for the ladies." It's not just the athletic facilities that I'm worried about. I don't think Sac State will ever get its Placer Center in Roseville built either. Believe me, I want to see Sac State become a source of civic pride. Unfortunately, all of my ideas are copycat ideas from when the Sacramento community helped keep the Kings in town and get the Golden 1 Center built. I don't think the heavy hitters/movers and shakers in Sacramento are all that interested in Sac State. They have other interests and can't be bothered to help this college with anything. So as far as I'm concerned, the problems with this college begin with a detached administration and carry over into a detached town.

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

I did extend an invite to Dr. Nelsen to join SacBuzz for a conversation about facilities. What if he actually checked in

Guess he would finally see that not every alum is proud and approving of his wokeness?

Come on, to spend $1.2M on changing every bathroom plaque to gender neutral across campus, so some alphabet freak doesn't get offended? No other CSU campus is spending on something like that, at least not at the Trustee awareness level.

That money could be spent on something a little more grounded.

The only tangible reason I give a rats ass about Sac State is it's football/baseball teams. This administration has driven me away.

To all the good people who donated $1,000K+ for the Event Center, aren't you a little pissed the money just vanished with no product, status update, campaign underway?

 

[Kadeezy]

I did extend an invite to Dr. Nelsen to join SacBuzz for a conversation about facilities. What if he actually checked in

Guess he would finally see that not every alum is proud and approving of his wokeness?

Come on, to spend $1.2M on changing every bathroom plaque to gender neutral across campus, so some alphabet freak doesn't get offended? No other CSU campus is spending on something like that, at least not at the Trustee awareness level.

That money could be spent on something a little more grounded.

The only tangible reason I give a rats ass about Sac State is it's football/baseball teams. This administration has driven me away.

To all the good people who donated $1,000K+ for the Event Center, aren't you a little pissed the money just vanished with no product, status update, campaign underway?

That would be me, and yes - angry about the bait and switch. There needs to be a fundraising effort where you get your money back if the thing isn’t built to exact specs…

 

[GreenArmySwarm]

This board is wild :lol:

 

[SDHornet]

Long post alert, tldr; Hornet students/alums/fans never had it this good.

Interesting takes, hard to disagree with them. Full disclaimer, you all know I've been a big Nelsen fanboi from the jump, mainly based on what he did at UT-PanAm (now known as UTRGV) prior to his departure and subsequent hire here. I'll just say this about the "wokeness" issue; the next president will be even more "woke", bank it. It's the way academia (along with corporate America, the military, and executive committees across the country) have been trending for the better part of the last decade (if not longer). I was shocked that an old white guy got the hire to begin with, but I have no doubt the next person will "checks all the right boxes" from a social credit standpoint.

Regarding what Nelsen has done on campus, I'll give credit where credit is due. Aside from failing on the events center issue, he moved the bar as far as campus wide facilities are concerned. If you have any doubts on that, just visit the campus and its surrounding area. Not going to bother listing all the stuff that got built under his tenure, but it's evident we took a big step forward with Nelsen at the helm. And believe me, I'm frustrated about the failure to get an events center built (more on that later).

Regarding athletics, there has never been a president as supportive in both energy/emotion and fund allocation to athletics in the history of Sac State. The Orr hire and the way/process held to recruit for that position and make the selection was executed at a top notch level. That really set the tone for the way the athletics department would operate under the Nelsen/Orr era with respect to the hiring process. The balls and ambition to not only call your shot with the Big Sky Conference brass, but then go out and recruit and hire a coach like Troy Taylor (while also paying Sears to go away) should put any doubts to rest on the commitment and ability of the leadership we’ve had in place for the last 5 years. Then they followed the Taylor (Pac 12 coordinator) hire up with the Campbell (Pac 12 associate head coach) hire for WBB, then Patrick (Big 12 associate head coach) with MBB, along with retaining Christiansen who has been wooed by multiple Pac 12 and Big West programs over the years. Those hires/retentions don’t happen without the upfront investment and subsequent programmatic funding and support from Nelsen/Orr. Yeah there's still some clean up needed (looking at you Dedini) but if Nelsen/Orr are here to make any necessary hires then rest assured we'll get a quality hire because a quality process will take place.

Hands down the biggest failure under the Nelsen/Orr tenure has been the inability to get an events center done. Getting the events center built was a main talking point in Orr’s welcoming speech, problem was (and anyone paying attention knew this) that he had/has no experience getting a large capital project planned, fund raised and built. I place the cause of failure to get the events center built on 2 fronts: 1) failure to hire someone with substantial capital project fund raising and facility planning experience. There has clearly been a lack of expertise on that issue that goes back well before Nelsen/Orr got here. Orr should have brought someone in with that expertise to remedy that issue. Someone needed to be hired years ago with the sole task of spearheading that monumental task of getting the events center built. 2) Nelsen not having the balls to forcibly enact a student referendum to fund construction of the events center. Not much needs to be said here, he can literally get it funded and subsequently built by the stroke of a pen.

The good news is that it’s not too late for this issue to get rectified. We’ve never had a president as good as him and times as a Hornet student/alum/fan have never been better. Bad news is Nelsen does not look healthy; in fact he looks rather morbid. If he is going through health issues, I sure hope he gets well and enjoys his remaining years alive the best he can. He turns 71 this January, a retirement announcement within the next year shouldn’t surprise anyone.

Stingers Up!

 

[SDHornet]

It's like I've always said, THIS IS SACRAMENTO! As far as anything regarding Sac State (especially when it comes to new athletic facilities), people don't want to help. We're a Kings town. People in these parts are more concerned about the Kings ending their long playoff drought. I fear that no matter what the football team does (or what the basketball teams might do), Sac State just isn't going get the students, the alumni, businesses (both large and small) and individuals to open their wallets to make a major contribution. Believe me, I would rather have one of Vivek Ranadive's children as president than Robert Nelsen since he's caught the same disease as that the rest of the town. I'm worried that the detachment between Sac State and Sacramento is just too much to overcome.

You clearly weren't around in 2004. A student referendum passed solely on the back of a middle of the road at best, yet exciting, MBB product. If Patrick can live up to the hype, you'll get to experience the excitement and the whirlwind of potential surrounding a new events center that those of that were around in '04 did.
:grizo1:

 

[HornetHope]

It's like I've always said, THIS IS SACRAMENTO! As far as anything regarding Sac State (especially when it comes to new athletic facilities), people don't want to help. We're a Kings town. People in these parts are more concerned about the Kings ending their long playoff drought. I fear that no matter what the football team does (or what the basketball teams might do), Sac State just isn't going get the students, the alumni, businesses (both large and small) and individuals to open their wallets to make a major contribution. Believe me, I would rather have one of Vivek Ranadive's children as president than Robert Nelsen since he's caught the same disease as that the rest of the town. I'm worried that the detachment between Sac State and Sacramento is just too much to overcome.

You clearly weren't around in 2004. A student referendum passed solely on the back of a middle of the road at best, yet exciting, MBB product. If Patrick can live up to the hype, you'll get to experience the excitement and the whirlwind of potential surrounding a new events center that those of that were around in '04 did.
:grizo1:

Nor were you likely around in the 80’s when “go D 1, save our athletics” were pushing for a huge student fee increase to fund athletics, back when Gerth was pushing for a bicycle track.

 

[SDHornet]

It's like I've always said, THIS IS SACRAMENTO! As far as anything regarding Sac State (especially when it comes to new athletic facilities), people don't want to help. We're a Kings town. People in these parts are more concerned about the Kings ending their long playoff drought. I fear that no matter what the football team does (or what the basketball teams might do), Sac State just isn't going get the students, the alumni, businesses (both large and small) and individuals to open their wallets to make a major contribution. Believe me, I would rather have one of Vivek Ranadive's children as president than Robert Nelsen since he's caught the same disease as that the rest of the town. I'm worried that the detachment between Sac State and Sacramento is just too much to overcome.

You clearly weren't around in 2004. A student referendum passed solely on the back of a middle of the road at best, yet exciting, MBB product. If Patrick can live up to the hype, you'll get to experience the excitement and the whirlwind of potential surrounding a new events center that those of that were around in '04 did.
:grizo1:

Nor were you likely around in the 80’s when “go D 1, save our athletics” were pushing for a huge student fee increase to fund athletics, back when Gerth was pushing for a bicycle track.

Nope, that was well before my time. Thank goodness there was foresight to make a push to go D1. :thumb:

 

[Kadeezy]

It's like I've always said, THIS IS SACRAMENTO! As far as anything regarding Sac State (especially when it comes to new athletic facilities), people don't want to help. We're a Kings town. People in these parts are more concerned about the Kings ending their long playoff drought. I fear that no matter what the football team does (or what the basketball teams might do), Sac State just isn't going get the students, the alumni, businesses (both large and small) and individuals to open their wallets to make a major contribution. Believe me, I would rather have one of Vivek Ranadive's children as president than Robert Nelsen since he's caught the same disease as that the rest of the town. I'm worried that the detachment between Sac State and Sacramento is just too much to overcome.

You clearly weren't around in 2004. A student referendum passed solely on the back of a middle of the road at best, yet exciting, MBB product. If Patrick can live up to the hype, you'll get to experience the excitement and the whirlwind of potential surrounding a new events center that those of that were around in '04 did.
:grizo1:

Nor were you likely around in the 80’s when “go D 1, save our athletics” were pushing for a huge student fee increase to fund athletics, back when Gerth was pushing for a bicycle track.

Ew. also, well said SD!

Maybe success from Patrick will push us over the finish line. Maybe Nelsen’s retiring gift to athletics (which he pretty much has to act like he doesn’t really care about in his addresses, etc. to satisfy the mob) will be a capital improvement to an athletic facility.

Agree that this is the best time ever in Hornet Sports, and hope Nelsen’s huge balls, compel him to make a ground breaking change soon…. Beyond the “stingers up” yells when he’s done talking.

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

Meanwhile, Cal Poly is getting ready to groundbreak on a new football athletics center to compliment their newish stadium.

 

[HornetStepchild]

I was in my teen years during the '80s, but I was unaware of the push to move the Hornets' athletic program to Division I until later on in the decade when they were gearing up for the move in 1991. I was still living in Chico back in 2004 (I stayed up there several more years after I graduated in the late '90s). I read about the 2004 referendum for the event center being passed during the time leading up to the proposed $219 per semester increase being put to a vote 10 years later and was soundly defeated (much like what happened to Measures Q and R in 2006 when the city was looking to build its arena in the Railyards). I honestly doubt Robert "Burkle Maloof" Nelsen will enact the fee increase because if he does, I wonder how much backlash and protest will he get from the students who think they're already paying enough in fees. I also feel that even if Mark "No Kevin Johnson" Orr were to have hired a person with fundraising experience (sorry, we can't have K.J. in that role, although I wish it was him considering what he did in keeping the Kings in town and getting the Golden 1 Center built), he will be facing a hard sell with Sacramento's heavy hitters who are already invested in other areas. Even though Nelsen and Orr have done a lot for Hornet athletics, I still fear that they will never get the major investment for new facilities because there's no one to bring the university and the big money donors together.

 

[Kadeezy]

For those that are interested, Nelsen responded to my email about facility improvements, status, etc. Quite thoughtfully.

Yes, there have been a lot of disappointments in past. But we do have plans for the future. On a small front, we are dedicating $11 million to completely redo the intramural fields and add lights to those fields and to the Softball Stadium and Soccer Field so that we can have games at night. On the bigger front, we have begun a campaign to add what we are calling a Broad 2.0 where the new Press Box is. The coaches chose this project as their number one project. It will cost about $50 million. Several major donors have already committed to the project. It will have a larger weight room, rooms for football (they currently have to use the Alumni Center for their team meetings), film rooms to break down games, more training facilities, and other amenities. Cal Poly just announced a similar facility last week at our joint game (the Madden Family) is paying for it. Ours will also have permanent bathrooms for the fans at the football games. On the largest, most wishful front, we have architectural plans for a new arena over where the digital sign is that would seat between 5,000 and 7,000 fans. The cost is $150 million more or less. The problem with all these projects is that we cannot use state funding, and we don’t want to raise student fees. We have to raise the money on our own. But I am a dreamer, and I think that we can do it. Any help you or any can provide would be greatly appreciated. I hope this email helps. Yours, Robert

 

[HornetStepchild]

I was glad to read Robert Nelsen's response. I'm also glad he was up front about the event center. I had a feeling a student fee increase wasn't something he was looking at. Especially given the way the 2014 vote went. Without a doubt, getting $150 million from anybody in this town is an uphill climb, even if Nelsen and Mark Orr were to put together a fundraising campaign that's been talked about by some of the other posters here. Nobody could put together $150 million to help with the MLS expansion efforts. Yes, I know that it would've taken more than that for Sacramento to solidify its MLS prospects, but it sure would've been helpful. The way I see it, without the interest from Sacramento's movers and shakers, the Sac State arena is about as likely to happen as Sacramento hosting an NBA All-Star Weekend. Anyhow, I'm glad to know that Dr. Nelsen has acknowledged that the event center funding is going to be a challenge. If only we can get the people in this town (especially the big money interests) to start caring about this school for a change.

 

[Greenteam]

Very disappointed to hear Nelson’s response about the event center. Failure of this administration if they can’t get it done. Failure by the state of California. Newsom has $97 billion surplus and the school cannot get funding to update the Nest? We don’t need an 8000 seat event center. Follow Portland State’s model. It would take about $25 million to blow up the smaller gym near the athletic offices to a 2500-3000 seat event center. That should take precedent over spending $11 million on intramural field improvements and lights on softball and soccer fields. Should also take precedent over a Broad 2.

 

[Kadeezy]

Yeah, I guess you could save $10M a year for five years and the do the Portland State design with Yosemite Hall?

I think Broad 2.0 has to be a priority, especially if coaches want it. Broad 1.0 is outdated and small compared to our competition.

Instead of behind the stadium, I think broad 2.0 would look better attached to the east side of the existing broad (just double the footprint). Make it one big facility, closing the loop of that side of the stadium, and put a huge video board on top.

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

Thanks for the update Kadeezy.

With the new location, by the digital sign, it removes the foot traffic off the campus center. Wonder if they can incorporate a dorm or two into the building to appease state funding restrictions? Like LSU, JaxState, etc.

With Broad 2.0, that will be behind the new press box? Must not be a very attractive architectural pleasing building to hide it behind the stadium? UCFE and CP just added new football buildings, so this is a must. So is SJSU and don't even mention the new SDSU palace.

Just gotta wonder how long structurally the stadium can remain? Earthquake viability alone should warrant a redo with a more structurally solid foundation. Maybe build Broad 2.0 into the stadium base?

Wish he would have addressed the track. Would love to move it to where the practice track is now. Absolutely no chance of hosting world track events after the new mecca in Oregon facility, so it is just an NCAA related track. What is the attendance prospects of that? Pretty minimum. I would think the water table is pretty low, so digging down for a bowl would be challenging.

 

[SDHornet]

Hard pass on the 2,500-3,000 venue idea. That isn't an "events center", it's just a larger gym. Total waste of effort imo. You're not going to build a top mid major program (for MBB & WBB) in something like that. 5k capacity is a minimum.

An events center getting done without a portion coming from student fees is wishful thinking. At a minimum, there should be a fee to maintain the facility, so even if it gets built that fancy new venue would go to crap in a matter of years under a deferred maintenance plan which would be an absolute disaster long term. There must be a student fee associated with a new events center just to keep it operable.

Football has the hot hand so it makes cents (sic) that football facilities are top priority. The reality is if you want any hope of ensuring Taylor declines offers from FBS programs, you (Nelsen/Orr) have to go all in on supporting that program. I'm totally fine with that. Agree with K on the location of the Broad 2.0. To me it makes more sense to wrap it around the south endzone since there is open space there. It would also be more visible as people drive around campus and could even tie in a new ticket booth/welcome area as fans come into the stadium. Also, anything built around/behind the current grandstands will make a future Hornet Stadium rebuild that much more difficult/costly to do as it likely would limit available footprint. It's clear there is no master planning going on with these concepts/projects and admin is just throwing darts at a campus facilities map on a wall, but hey at least they are thinking about it I guess.

Also agree with GCM on getting the track out of there if a new HS is ever built.