Time to revisit the Bengal Village

[biobengal]

Most of the people around when the Bengal Village plans were drawn up are gone; I think it may be time to revisit the Holt Arena issue. ISU needs to build something that is actually workable and gets the Holt Arena albatross off ISU's neck. Everyone needs to face facts, Holt Arena’s time is through and new construction projects are often waaaay cheaper than a retrofit. IMO, football should be the number one priority! This department lives or dies depending upon the future of football and the Big Sky Conference. It's time ISU sees the changing college landscape and does something about it. It’s time to build a new outdoor football stadium. If ISU needs a blueprint SIU in Carbondale is a good place to look. Southern Illinois University just built a brand new 15,000 seat stadium for $25 million. That’s the same amount ISU would spend on access and egress in Holt Arena!!!!! We saw a few years ago that nobody wants to pay for access and egress… not alumni, not the local community and not the students. I think many people may be a little more tuned in to a new approach.

Someone help me… am I missing something? Why would ISU spend upwards of $50 million on Holt Arena when half that could be spent for a brand new facility. Southern Illinois University’s new stadium with 15,000 seats to the tune of $25 million. http://www.stltoday.com/sports/other/article_3a3fdb86-fea7-514d-a467-139c0f8aed04.html Pay special attention to the way this project gets funded: 1) SIU increased the athletic fee (without relying on a vote of the students) and 2) a $0.25 sales tax increase over 20 years voted in by the city council. VERY CLEVER!

ISU needs to face facts, Holt Arena is an obsolete idea that will forever relegate ISU to small time athletics as it’s former rivals move on and past.

 

[Skippy]

I agree with you, biobengal, that Holt Arena is a very limiting factor for ISU right now (much like the Kibbie Dome is to the University of Idaho). It might well be time to revisit the idea. The problem, of course, is where do you find $25 M? Local communities in Idaho (other than those designated as "resorts" -- Sun Valley, Lava, etc.), can't tack on their own sales taxes, and Pocatello has already spoken, loud and clear, about how it feels about raising property taxes to fund improvements at Holt Arena.

You could raise student fees, but students have had to bear the brunt of rising tuition through ever-increasing fees, year after year. You could try that approach, but you'd still have to convince the student government to support the idea, or you'd have a revolt on your hands.

I'm not saying it's not do-able -- but it would take several years to lay the ground work for an outdoor stadium. In the mean time, I'm sure ISU and the rest of the Big Sky will be watching very carefully how the WAC situation unfolds. Will the Big Sky Conference lose two or more schools to the WAC, and if so, what direction will the Big Sky take? If the two Montana schools leave, for example, you've basically gutted the league. Will anybody be willing to pony up for an outdoor football stadium when the two most stable programs are leaving the league? If the Montanas left, would the Big Sky consider dropping football all together? Again, not saying any of this will happen, but I look at the difficult position Idaho and Utah State find themselves in, and it's obvious that the western football scene is unstable.

Holt has been a great facility for ISU and the community and served both well, but I agree, an outdoor stadium -- especially if connected to new coaches and athletic offices, would be a step forward. I'm just not sure how realistic it is right now. But if you don't look into the possibilities, you'll always be stuck where you are today -- or worse.

 

[spartan]

yup - thats the solution .... toss $25 million/a new stadium at a program that wins 1 game a year...

brilliant

if the montana schools leave the big sky and idaho state university football is dead unless it goes down a division or two - can you say naia?

 

[biobengal]

Is it realistic, probably not. In fact, I imagine Tingey is still pining for a remodeled Holt Arena whatever the price. Funding an outdoor stadium will always be the issue whether its done proactively to save the program or otherwise. Unfortunately, things just keep getting more expensive, soon it will be cost prohibitive to ever build a stadium at ISU. A few crazy ideas that ISU needs to explore:

1) Play 3 BCS teams a year and net enough to make bond payments.
2) Start a conversation with the city… don’t just push for a vote… put everything on the table.
3) Approach the city about buying Holt Arena?
4) Approach the city about building an outdoor stadium; there’s been chatter about building one.
5) Start making noise about a move to the WAC, sure it won’t happen but it might build interest.
6) Use whatever Holt maintenance money still available to start pushing dirt and funding architects.
7) Do something!

Yes, the football situation in the west is unstable, precisely the reason ISU needs to get its ducks in a row. It seems there are just two options: 1) wait until things settle before starting the conversation or 2) be proactive and do something about the situation. The fact is Holt Arena is just too damn expensive… expensive to repair, expensive to operate and expensive to maintain. If funding a new stadium to the tune of $25 million is difficult, spending twice that for Holt Arena is difficult on top of insane. Even event organizers have spoken, recently the DNCFR left; Holt Arena is just not that desirable of a facility anymore and Pocatello is losing their events center. Unfortunately, I fear ISU may lose in its bid to keep football and they will have done it without putting up a fight.

 

[biobengal]

yup - thats the solution .... toss $25 million/a new stadium at a program that wins 1 game a year...

brilliant

if the montana schools leave the big sky and idaho state university football is dead unless it goes down a division or two - can you say naia?

This is exactly the kind of thinking that has ISU in its present situation. Montana and Montana State both built new outdoor stadiums when their programs were lackluster and it turned things around for both programs.

 

[spudbowl]

What ever happened to Bengal Village? Wasn't the softball field supposed to be built near Holt as part of the village? Has the concept been abandoned?

 

[sasquatch]

You know, I don't mind the dome. I really don't. If, however, the university deems it more economically viable to built an outdoor stadium, then I'm fully behind it.

The area of concern I've always had with Bengal Village is the reduced seating planned at Holt. I believe seating was planned to decrease to 10,000 general admission seats, although the new boxes/suites are supposedly going to be big enough to absorb those extra bodies. I don't see ISU moving to the FBS level at this time either, but why spend millions of dollars to renovate a dome which puts an exclamation point on the fact that you CAN'T? Why not renovate it or come up with a solution so that it can be easily expanded to 15,000 seats (or whatever the minimun number of FBS seats are). Don't pin yourself against a wall.

 

[biobengal]

What ever happened to Bengal Village? Wasn't the softball field supposed to be built near Holt as part of the village? Has the concept been abandoned?

Yes, that's what I understand, the softball field was to be built near Holt Arena. They've obviously scrapped certain parts of the Bengal Village, I hope they scrap the rest. Spending upwards of 100 million to put ISU facilities in the middle of the pack in the BSC is foolish. These programs all have better facilities than a fully complete decades away Bengal Village: Montana, Montana State, Weber State, Sacramento State and arguably Northern Colorado.

 

[isusuperfan]

"You could raise student fees, but students have had to bear the brunt of rising tuition through ever-increasing fees, year after year. You could try that approach, but you'd still have to convince the student government to support the idea, or you'd have a revolt on your hands."

You're damn right you would, and I'd be at the front of it, leading the charge.

Also, the softball field is coming nicely up at Bartz. I'm gonna love playing rugby matches and literally strolling on down to the field after the match to watch softball. Godspeed, construction crews!

 

[Red Hill]

Even more of reason to upgrade the dome. Check out what Montana State is trying to do http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/vi...otball stadium&FROM=LKVR5&GT1=LKVR5&FORM=LKVR

 

[biobengal]

This is kind of interesting folks... according to this master plan produced around the time as Bengal Village it looks like they were thinking about an outdoor stadium. Former ISUSID any insight into this?

http://www.isu.edu/phyplant/PDF/masterPlan.pdf

Oh, and Superfan... I'm sruprised you would say this:

You're damn right you would, and I'd be at the front of it, leading the charge.

How is UNC able to raise student fees to support athletic facilities and ISU can't get its most passionate fan on board. Unfortunately, doing anything meaningful with facilities will be an an uphill battle all the way.

 

[spartan]

all montana state needs now is a plan for each player to get 'spirit packs'

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

the video costs a lot less than the proposed/imaginary project.. where the hell do they think the money is going to come from in this economy?

 

[sasquatch]

Don't forget, it wasn't that long ago the students agreed to a fee increase for the new/expanded student recreation center to the tune of about $7 million. It added 32,000 sf of space to Reed, and I'd encourage anybody to take a look at it if you can. It just opened about a month ago or so. This is going to help attract new student interest, which in its own way, indirectly helps athletics.

http://www.isu.edu/camprec/recexpansion/

 

[isusuperfan]

"Oh, and Superfan... I'm sruprised you would say this: How is UNC able to raise student fees to support athletic facilities and ISU can't get its most passionate fan on board?"

*stands on soapbox, if only to increase height by a foot*

Because it crosses the realm from sports to personal politics and principles.

Let's be honest guys. Overall picture. ISU is poorer than sh!t, students are still pissed over the financial aid fiasco of switching systems, there are so many divisions in the university we can't hope to create a base for an empire, and all the while Idaho is waging war on education. Not a happy prospect. Increasing tuition is not being taken very well. We increased the fees for the new expansion because it was sorely needed. Ever work out in the old weight room? That place was too crowded for anyone to do anything, and the cardio room was a joke. It's easier to pass something like that because we can see the immediate benefits of having it. Building new athletic facilities, something that will be used by a tiny portion of the student population, is always a gamble; results, if any, take years to show. Try asking us to raise tuition and fees on a project that will take a long while to show results. Chances are good the sh!t will hit the fan and we turn it down.

Simply put, UNC has its act together, we don't. Building a new facility won't help. ISU needs to heal the various divisions and create some damned unity first before we can build anything.

This is one of those "let's start small and build foundations little by little" deals. Building an $80 million dollar complex is not going to help. In fact, I think it will make things worse.