Is the arena dead?

[JackHornet]

If 8,900 student College of Charleston who beat UNC-Chapel Hill yesterday can build a $45M state of the art arena, why can't Sac State with over 180,000 grads find the money for an arena. Are all of our grads working at the Walmart return counter? Surely, there is somebody who has some seed money.

http://www.cofcsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=14800&ATCLID=717604

Montana State just received a $500,000 donation, see the economy is not as bad as the press makes it out to be.

http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=7890

A $500K donation will barely make a dent for an arena. Any private donation from a person wil,l at best, pay for half the costs of an arena.

A donation by a company may pay for the entire arena, but why would a company pay for the entire arena when that company could just buy the naming rights for a fraction of the costs.

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

A $500,000 donation would come close to closing out all of the naming rights in the Broad. Last time I checked, there were many rooms, lockers and hallways available for a naming donation.

 

[JackHornet]

A $500,000 donation would come close to closing out all of the naming rights in the Broad. Last time I checked, there were many rooms, lockers and hallways available for a naming donation.

Who cares about that the naming rights for certain rooms in a building, that has already been built, at Sac St. We need all the money for an arena. That should be our goal and focus. Where is the money for an arena going to come from?

 

[superhornet]

A $500,000 donation would come close to closing out all of the naming rights in the Broad. Last time I checked, there were many rooms, lockers and hallways available for a naming donation.

Who cares about that the naming rights for certain rooms in a building, that has already been built, at Sac St. We need all the money for an arena. That should be our goal and focus. Where is the money for an arena going to come from?

I think you're missing GCM's point, Jack. If you sell naming rights to an already extant entity, that $$ can then be used for any other purpose you want (i.e. the new arena) unless the donor specifies otherwise. While I'm not a big fan of selling naming rights, setting up, say, the John Volek Head Coach's Office (for sake of argument) would be a start on generating the necessary $$ for the arena.

That said, you're right that it'll take a ton more than what one might get for rooms. It IS, however, a start.

 

[SactoHornetAlum]

A $500,000 donation would come close to closing out all of the naming rights in the Broad. Last time I checked, there were many rooms, lockers and hallways available for a naming donation.

Who cares about that the naming rights for certain rooms in a building, that has already been built, at Sac St. We need all the money for an arena. That should be our goal and focus. Where is the money for an arena going to come from?

I don't necessarily disagree, but in this economy, you take ANY and ALL funds you can get towards the Athletic Dept....

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

A $500,000 donation would come close to closing out all of the naming rights in the Broad. Last time I checked, there were many rooms, lockers and hallways available for a naming donation.

Who cares about that the naming rights for certain rooms in a building, that has already been built, at Sac St. We need all the money for an arena. That should be our goal and focus. Where is the money for an arena going to come from?

The money used in the Broad is money needed to fund another facility investment. Too bad we can't have the state condemn the gym for asbestos, we might then be able to find funds to revamp or rebuild something else.

I am also sure that if anything was going to get built, Gonzalez would keep it mum, the academic types on campus would riot if they learned money had been found to build an arena but not for the Latino Culture studies department.

I am flabbergasted that with 180,000 grads we can't find some seed money. Why not have a campaign to solicit these 180,000 for a $20 donation?

What irks me is that there is no top down grass roots campaign led by Gonzalez to get this built.

Just like with Gerth, if no one talks about it, it will just go away. Another problem for the next President to face.

 

[SDHornet]

I agree GCM, if everyone threw in a few bucks every year, a lot could get done. This is definitely something the administration should look into.

 

[JackHornet]

Honestly I don't want anymore money to be spend on the Broad. It still gets my upset about Gonzo's bait and switch.

But trying to get $20 donations, by the time you get enough money for an arena, which will cost at least $50 million, it will take forever.

But to be honest, I have serious doubts that an arena will be built before this decade is over.

 

[JackHornet]

I don't necessarily disagree, but in this economy, you take ANY and ALL funds you can get towards the Athletic Dept....

If somebody wanted to donate for the Broad, that would be great.

My point is, I want the school to focus on finding funding for the arena.

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

I agree completely Jack, all efforts should be for the arena, but again, the academic types on campus are bloodthirsty for money to support the Socialism and Voodoo departments. Maybe Gonzo is waiting for the economy to pick back up to announce something. One saving grace is that Sac State is scheduled to receive a new $97M Science building soon, so maybe that will quiet the non-sports people.

Tsakalapoulous (sp) is an alum millionaire times over, and a developer, I am surprised that he hasn't offered to help. And his son sits on the BOR. Teichert is another developer/construction baron who could help. He was just awarded a PhD from Sac State.

Easy to be an armchair fundraiser though.

 

[StungAlum]

I agree completely Jack, all efforts should be for the arena, but again, the academic types on campus are bloodthirsty for money to support the Socialism and Voodoo departments. Maybe Gonzo is waiting for the economy to pick back up to announce something. One saving grace is that Sac State is scheduled to receive a new $97M Science building soon, so maybe that will quiet the non-sports people.

Tsakalapoulous (sp) is an alum millionaire times over, and a developer, I am surprised that he hasn't offered to help. And his son sits on the BOR. Teichert is another developer/construction baron who could help. He was just awarded a PhD from Sac State.

Easy to be an armchair fundraiser though.

Just fyi, Teichert was awarded an honorary doctorate, not a PhD or anything for academics, he didnt earn it, it is a recognition type deal. He got his masters from Sac State though.

 

[cecesdada]

I've got my $40 check ready (wife is a proud alum also).

 

[JackHornet]

I agree completely Jack, all efforts should be for the arena, but again, the academic types on campus are bloodthirsty for money to support the Socialism and Voodoo departments. Maybe Gonzo is waiting for the economy to pick back up to announce something. One saving grace is that Sac State is scheduled to receive a new $97M Science building soon, so maybe that will quiet the non-sports people.

Tsakalapoulous (sp) is an alum millionaire times over, and a developer, I am surprised that he hasn't offered to help. And his son sits on the BOR. Teichert is another developer/construction baron who could help. He was just awarded a PhD from Sac State.

Easy to be an armchair fundraiser though.

If the Maldoofs donated $50 million for an arena, we would start construction tomorrow and the academic types couldn't do anything about that.

But we know that isn't happening. Getting a $50 million donation doesn't happen overnight. I just want to hear that we are doing something about finding money for an arena. But I fear the arena is on the backburner; part of which I understand-bad economy and part of it, I don't like, because it gets Gonzo off the hook with his bait and switch tactics.

 

[JackHornet]

But let's look at the city of Sac and what has been built within the past decade? Ok, Raley Field but that was all private.

The Maldoofs are begging for an arena but that isn't going to happen anytime soon. The Mayor is a former NBA player and his hands are tied.

Why is it so hard for the city of Sacramento to build an arena?

 

[superhornet]

It's not just Sac. Look at San Diego. The Chargers have been trying to get a new stadium built for years, even sweetening the pot with other development opportunities around it (subdivisions, malls, etc.) But the fact of the matter is that regardless of the economy, some communities will NOT support government spending on sports facilities, completely ignoring the fact that the facility would be used for other events throughout the year. In these communities (Sac, SD, etc.) anything done just about HAS to be completely private financing. For pro sports, that might be OK if someone would be willing to pony up. But for a public entity like a university, that brings up questions of propriety at the very least. And that's assuming that not only would someone step up, but the administration accepts the proposal. Sac has a history of turning their backs on privately financed stadia in the past, and even tried to stop the old football/track weight facility that was built almost entirely through parent/player/coach volunteer labor, especially that of one coach in particular.

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

City of Sacramento is almost bankrupt, maybe with Fargo we had a chance, but the new mayor has his head so far up Maloof's ass, don't count on it. And if the Maloof's were a giving type they would waive all the BS fees and let Sac State use ARCO at no charge.

 

[SDHornet]

SH, San Diego is a different situation. The city just gave a billionaire owner a publicly financed stadium at the beginning of the last decade. Trust me; the taxpayers DO NOT want to go through those shenanigans again. To the credit of John Moores (Padres owner at the time) he did it the right way. He bought some players for a season and got to the World Series. The city fell in love with the Padres and the stadium initiative was passed by the voters and the rest is history.

Now we have another billionaire owner asking for more taxpayer dollars as well as land gifted to him from the city for his stadium. But if the Chargers win a Super Bowl, I wouldn’t be surprised to see another stadium initiative be put on the ballot.

If I were a resident of Sacramento, I’d be furious that pair of filthy rich Las Vegas casino owners were asking for a taxpayer handout. The advantage all these cities with teams threatening to leave have is there is not one city in America that has the money to build a stadium or arena for a team at the moment.

 

[SactoHornetAlum]

But let's look at the city of Sac and what has been built within the past decade? Ok, Raley Field but that was all private.

The Maldoofs are begging for an arena but that isn't going to happen anytime soon. The Mayor is a former NBA player and his hands are tied.

Why is it so hard for the city of Sacramento to build an arena?

Uh, Raley Field is in WEST Sacramento...and in Yolo County to boot...

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

If I were a resident of Sacramento, I’d be furious that pair of filthy rich Las Vegas casino owners were asking for a taxpayer handout. The advantage all these cities with teams threatening to leave have is there is not one city in America that has the money to build a stadium or arena for a team at the moment.

The Sacbee trips over themselves trying to appease the Kings, there will be substantial press by the paper to keep Sacramento a 'big league' town. It's like the gay marriage stuff, the party who wants it keeps cramming vote, advisory, debate down everybody's throat until it eventually passes. In Sactowns quest to be something they will sell the city to the Maloofs. I bet in the end the city forks over the money. Or maybe the Roseville Kings?

 

[superhornet]

GCM --> If the Kings move, it will NOT be to Roseville a la the Rams moving to Anaheim and the Raiders' aborted move to Irwindale. The Kings will move to Lost Wages.

SD --> Thanks for the clarification. I guess that's the difference: Moores at least TRIED to win, while those Stockton idiots are little better than Donald Sterling and wonder why the fans won't support a new stadium. Dumping two HOF-caliber QBs one right after the other for a guy who can't win his way out of a wet paper bag and a HOF linebacker because "he's too old to be any good" only to watch him play another ten years for two other teams.... Give me a break.