• Hi Guest, want to participate in the discussions, keep track of read/unread posts, upgrade to remove ads and more? Create your free account and increase the benefits of your BigSkyFans.com experience today!

New Arena

However, expandability should be factored in.

I strongly believe Stott Center fails the "eye test". The "less committed" fans cannot have that good an impression of the facility. A new arena would fill better IMO.

What's going on in Flagstaff- not ironically at all, I might add- easily mirrors the situations in Moscow and Pocatello. Very close to the same arrangement is proposed for UI and ISU. UI has already asked for state funds, and while I'm not sure how fast they can move on their project, they make it sound like a done deal. ISU is now depending on a ballot measure in Pocatello and neighboring Chubbuck scheduled February 5 for just under $30 million just to renovate the roof, upgrade the air conditioning, and overhaul the concourse in Holt Arena. ISU hopes this will create the impetus to get moving on "Bengal Village," including their arena proposal.
 
There was an interesting interview with the ISU AD at halftime of the PSU-ISU basketball game on CSN the other day. Their AD seemed very optimistic about their facility improvements going forward. Jealous, I am...
 
ManOfVision said:
There was an interesting interview with the ISU AD at halftime of the PSU-ISU basketball game on CSN the other day. Their AD seemed very optimistic about their facility improvements going forward. Jealous, I am...
Click to expand...

Sell, sell, sell.

Promises, promises, promises.

It's not the first time in Pocatello. It won't be the last.

They might have some accident where funding actually becomes available... 5-10 years down the line. I'll be surprised if the maintenance ballot measure even passes (requires two-thirds majority in two cities).
 
Portland State administrators shortsightedly blew a perfect funding vehicle for a new arena. They should have tied it in with the new student rec center like many schools do when they build new rec centers. Unfortunately, our administrators are boneheads.
 
VikThunder said:
Portland State administrators shortsightedly blew a perfect funding vehicle for a new arena. They should have tied it in with the new student rec center like many schools do when they build new rec centers. Unfortunately, our administrators are boneheads.
Click to expand...

I actually have to disagree with you on this. The student rec center was a relatively grassroots project receiving some funding from student fees. If anything, I think attaching an arena to the project would've killed it. As it worked out, we have a sweet new rec center that actually helps us justify a new basketball arena, because now the Stott site can be opened up exclusively for Athletics and won't be relied on to double as a rec center anymore.
 
"As it worked out, we have a sweet new rec center that actually helps us justify a new basketball arena, because now the Stott site can be opened up exclusively for Athletics and won't be relied on to double as a rec center anymore."

Excellent point...
 
The Rec Center barely got off the ground, so attaching a new arena condition to it would've killed it before it made it to the legislature. The route taken in getting a rec center built and making the Stott for athletics only was the best way to go. A new arena will need to be sold not just as a benefit to PSU athletics, but to the Portland area at large (similar to how the Chiles Center is used).
 
ManOfVision said:
VikThunder said:
Portland State administrators shortsightedly blew a perfect funding vehicle for a new arena. They should have tied it in with the new student rec center like many schools do when they build new rec centers. Unfortunately, our administrators are boneheads.
Click to expand...

I actually have to disagree with you on this. The student rec center was a relatively grassroots project receiving some funding from student fees. If anything, I think attaching an arena to the project would've killed it. As it worked out, we have a sweet new rec center that actually helps us justify a new basketball arena, because now the Stott site can be opened up exclusively for Athletics and won't be relied on to double as a rec center anymore.
Click to expand...

Actually he's right. My boss's daughter went to San Diego St and he told me the Cox Arena was funded by students fees and Cox only paid for the naming rights to the arena. But the only way San Diego St. students would have raised student fees, a rec center had to be tied into it.
 
MaxViking said:
ManOfVision said:
VikThunder said:
Portland State administrators shortsightedly blew a perfect funding vehicle for a new arena. They should have tied it in with the new student rec center like many schools do when they build new rec centers. Unfortunately, our administrators are boneheads.
Click to expand...

I actually have to disagree with you on this. The student rec center was a relatively grassroots project receiving some funding from student fees. If anything, I think attaching an arena to the project would've killed it. As it worked out, we have a sweet new rec center that actually helps us justify a new basketball arena, because now the Stott site can be opened up exclusively for Athletics and won't be relied on to double as a rec center anymore.
Click to expand...

Actually he's right. My boss's daughter went to San Diego St and he told me the Cox Arena was funded by students fees and Cox only paid for the naming rights to the arena. But the only way San Diego St. students would have raised student fees, a rec center had to be tied into it.
Click to expand...

That was my point. This is the method used at most universities. They tie it to a student rec center. It wouldn't have cratered the approval since the motivation to get a student rec center would have greased the approvals. It was the perfect opportunity to hitch the arena to a funding mechanism. It might be a moot point now since the rec center funding is already done but now it will be exponentially more difficult to finance a new arena.
 
But again, the Rec Center barely got approval by itself. If an arena was added as well, there's no way it would've happened, due to the increase in the student fees.
 
So I guess I'll drag this thread up again with what the Bone interview yielded today...

The Bone interview should be in the audio vault of The Fan's website (www.1080thefan.com). They are usually a day or two behind, so check back.

He made it sound like the planning for a new basketball/volleyball only venue is in progress, or at least that's what I took from it. What better time to drop that idea on the public? When things are good of course (ala Seattle Mariners with Safeco Field). Pure speculation.

So do you strike while the iron is hot (PSU will either be in the NIT or the NCAA tourney at this point)?

Or do you wait for the completion of the rec center, ride the NIT/NCAA bid into next year with a talented team coming back, and do it then?
 
Yeah, any fundraising effort would almost certainly have to be a public private partnership, so don't wait to start the private part.
 
From today's Tribune:

• Portland State has begun preliminary plans to renovate and expand Stott Center.

“We have site plans and conceptual renderings of what can be done to expand the arena to a capacity of 4,000 or 4,500,” PSU Athletic Director Torre Chisholm says. The facility would “take care of basketball team needs as well as other programs and the PE department.”

Chisholm says it’s too early for a timetable on when the renovation and expansion might happen, but he hopes to kick off a fundraising campaign after a university president is hired in late spring or early summer.

“It’s on the campus radar,” Chisholm says of the Stott upgrade. “It’s something we have to do. Funds will have to be externally generated.”
 
a030.gif
 
I'd like for us alums to get the ball rolling with a mere $10 donation from each of the 103,000 PSU alumni to bring in the first $1,030,000. We could do this monthly for a year and that would bring in $12,360,000. We will need media help to bring the campaign about. Public Service Announcements.

What percentage of alums would opt to participate? We need to encourage a large percentage.
 
Hm, good idea. I'd also use this project as another opportunity to further PSU's reputation as an international leader in sustainability. Why not talk to the local big and small businesses committed to sustainability and make the new arena a really environmental friendly building (eco roof, solar power, low emission etc.)?
 
PortlandStater said:
Hm, good idea. I'd also use this project as another opportunity to further PSU's reputation as an international leader in sustainability. Why not talk to the local big and small businesses committed to sustainability and make the new arena a really environmental friendly building (eco roof, solar power, low emission etc.)?
Click to expand...

LOVE this idea. We should do this anyway, for its own sake, but especially considering the goodwill and publicity PSU could generate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top