Good morning, Roadrunner Nation. Before I get into one of the primary reasons for this inquiry, I'd like to ask everyone concerned to please keep a good thought for the people victimized by what took place in Aurora, Colorado last night.

Now, for the other item at hand. I was doing a personal assessment on Conference USA football in relation to playing facilities in lieu of the re-alignment and the most welcome addition of new "family" members, to include the Roadrunners of Texas-San Antonio. Some of you may be aware of, we at UAB have been in the midst of a controversy of having to deal with an obstructive and less than supportive board of trustees in regards to an oncampus stadium project many of us were so sure would be approved by this board back in November of last year. It wasn't, & the sneaky, underhanded way in which the proposal was denied has left a very bitter taste in the mouths of many a Blazers sports fan. But, that's our cross to bear. Was wonderinig how many schools in what will be the new Conference USA will have the luxury of being able to represent their schools by playing football in stadiums on their respective campuses. I was told that all but 3, us of course, Tulane, and UTSA, but Tulane was supposedly close to a breakthrough on getting their OCS, so what's the aspirations of UTSA? Is everyone concerned content with the Alamodome (nice stadium, IMO) or is there an effort underway to get an on campus stadium for the football program? The way it's looking, UAB will be naked-a**ed last at getting this kind of facility, if at all. If there's a push in San Antonio to get one, I wish you the best in doing so, was just wanting to know if there's some kind of movement in the works. I appreciate your indulgence and can't wait for 2013. Long live Conference USA!

We initially had planned for an on-campus stadium, and if you're interested our master plan for our athletic complex can be found here, but just recently our AD has publicly announced ("According to Lipscomb and Athletics Director Lynn Hickey, plans for the complex have changed. 'The (football stadium has) effectively been taken out of the Master Plan,'") that we're actually scraping the football arena from our long term plans indefinitely.
It was actually a bit of a shock because as you'll note in the master plan, the football stadium was quite literally the very last thing we were going to construct. We haven't gotten the nity-grity financial documents for last year out yet, but to take plans from up to 10 years down the road, and say we're not even going to bother with even that, we can only assume we're doing very well with our current arrangements.

Our initial agreement with the Alamodome and the City was for 5 years, but there's been rumors (mentioned in the second link) that there's already a new deal in the works for over 10 years.

It seems to me that UTSA doesn't want to be like most schools in a large market, where it's technically located in the city, but it's really just it's own smaller community that happens to be surrounded by a large metro; it really wants to be a face of San Antonio.
UTSA spends so much effort integrating itself into SA's community that it wants to reach the entire city, not just staying in it's corner on the NW side; and it can't reach that goal by building a stadium away from downtown and the heart of SA.

@Kramada:Thank you for your feedback... Sounds a little like our situation here in Birmingham with UAB, give or take a couple of external factors.We're dealing with a "political football" in the truest sense of the term here.

Our board of trustees set certain criteria for administration to meet before they would give their "blessing" on a proposed 27,500 seat on campus football stadium, feasibility studies, corporate involvement, our school president did what many thought was a masterful job with the stadium proposal, all of the requirements were met and the board was supposed to discuss and vote on it in November of last year. But a couple of trustees chose to pull the stadium from the agenda without so much as a public discussion (supposedly, a violation of this state's open meeting, or "sunshine" law), instead choosing to issue a lame written statement proclaiming that the stadium was not in the best interest of the state, the city or the University. Needless to say, many of us were and still are, extremely upset about this. This board is comprised mostly of University of Alabama alumni/supporters, who are dead set against anything that will enhance any other school within their system other than the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, especially UAB, there is absolutely no clear and balanced representation or support for the other universities within the UA system, every and anything that the Tuscaloosa campus wants, they approve before they take a breath without hesititation, I've seen this first hand myself at a couple of their meetings, yet UAB is the system's most productive revenue generator ($4.6 billion annually), yet the majority of any and all money accrued goes to Tuscaloosa projects, to include frat houses, coffee houses, a media center, etc... Just recently, UAB's President, Carol Garrison, was told by this board to not bring the issue up of an on-campus stadium for a couple of years and to focus on "proof of increased community support"...Doesn't pass the smell test with me. UAB's football team has had to settle for playing in decrepit, outdated, primitive and obsolete Legion Field, the absolute worst place of its' size to play a football game in this era of modern, upgraded facilities. It is a cesspool, a "hole in the wall" where football stadiums are concerned. No one wants to play there, and this is not an exaggeration, many events from high school state championships to the SEC title game have pulled out because of the obvious inferior conditions, yet the city continues to put money and hand-me-down equipment in it to try and justify its' depleted viability,holding out in vain for a multi-purpose domed facility that has been "in the talking stages" for well over 2 decades, with nothing more than an embarrassing ground breaking ceremony two years ago and still not so much as one brick laid towards actual construction, and none to come in the immediate future. You guys got it made with that Alamodome, if we had a venue like that here in Birmingham, I'd gladly bide my time until we got a place of our own on campus. It's just beyond pathetic that in the 21st Century that we're still subjected to substandard, bottom of the barrel conditions in what is supposed to be a lucrative bread-and-butter culture for this area, football. Legion Field is a clear and glaring indication that commitment to excellence is not a priority for Birmingham, otherwise, it would have been razed decades ago, replaced with something more accommodating and reflective of real progress. Don't let this kind of complacency and short-sightedness eclipse the Roadrunner Nation. I've never been to San Antonio, but I am looking forward to the trip in the near future, looks as if spirit of community is not an issue there, can't wait to embrace that aura. Much obliged to you again.

Wow Matrix, I wasn't aware of all those problems that UAB faces. I knew Tulane had a situation with their board and it was cleared up, good for them. I guess the U of Alabama system wants to protect their "gem" at all costs. Even if that means depriving other programs of resources. Some may say, especially if that means depriving the other schools of resources. Much credit to you guys, for continuing the good fight, even facing such adversity.

UTSA is not looking for an on campus stadium. Going on what my partner said above, I think then new agreement is for 25 years. We do have an option to leave every 5 though.

At this time, the Alamodomeis a perfect match for us. The city and the community seem to be backing us up. Although I'm not sure how it's gonna work out when we have a couple 1-11 seasons. Either way, our own stadium would kill this program where it stands, for now anyways. Perhaps in the future, the Alamodome will kill this program where it stands. But I have trust in our administration. We are in dire need of a new basketball and football practice facilities. Meanwhile, we are building a good fanbase downtown. When we become competitive, expect to see 55k plus at the dome, every game.

One of the main reasons for keeping the dome, is that it's a great facility for college football. Secondly, we are paying dirt cheap for it's lease. I think it was $30,000 per game or so. We had a 2.5 million revenue in ticket sales, so it only makes sense to ride the wave a bit longer.
When it is time to build our own, then I'm confident our administration would begin the process as early as possible.

First, it's UTSA, not Texas-San Antonio. :-)

Second, we'll need the 55,000 seat dome to hold the fans, especially with our killer non-conference games coming up: Oklahoma State, Virginia, Houston, Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, and more.

(07-20-2012 05:05 PM)Fear The Beak Wrote:  First, it's UTSA, not Texas-San Antonio. :-)

Second, we'll need the 55,000 seat dome to hold the fans, especially with our killer non-conference games coming up: Oklahoma State, Virginia, Houston, Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, and more.

Both points well taken. We at UAB don't like being called, "Alabama-Birmingham", either. That out of conference schedule is brutal, yet brave and bold.

(07-20-2012 05:27 PM)Matrix Wrote:  

(07-20-2012 05:05 PM)Fear The Beak Wrote:  First, it's UTSA, not Texas-San Antonio. :-)

Second, we'll need the 55,000 seat dome to hold the fans, especially with our killer non-conference games coming up: Oklahoma State, Virginia, Houston, Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, and more.

Both points well taken. We at UAB don't like being called, "Alabama-Birmingham", either. That out of conference schedule is brutal, yet brave and bold.

I'd say foolish too. I don't know how our young program will benefit from getting severly stomped. Obviously, big paycheck notwithstanding.

We will have some surprises yankee...GO RUNNERS!

@YankeeRunner: Thank you for your interest and insight. We've tried to take our plight to the national sports scene, we're dealing with a bureaucracy whose tentacles stretch all the way to the governor's mansion in this state. The president of the UA board of trustees is the son of former alabama coach paul 'bear' bryant, who hated Birmingham with a crimson passion, need I say more on that? They nominate whoever they want on their board, they're not elected, rather self-appointed. Textbook "good ole' boy" network. I actually didn't know until last week that it literally took an act of state legislation to make alabama play their most hated rival, Auburn University, in football. But, they won't intervene when this very board violates state law because they don't want another school in this state to have a leg to stand on and be competitive and successful, as well as independent of them. UA wants to be the Alpha and Omega of sports in this state. In addition to hindering/interfering with UAB athletics, they've tried to deal UAH (Univ. of Ala- Huntsville) a telling blow by attempting to dissolve their beloved hockey program, but at the same allocating resources for the club hockey team in Tuscaloosa, the so-called "Frozen Tide." The handwriting's clearly on the wall when it comes to the blatant corruption and drunk with power mentality that is the makeup of this board of trustees. What good is being part of a system, when the system clearly is not in favor of you? I could cite a number of other examples of their obvious obstruction (Jimbo Fisher, Justin Knox, Mike Anderson, Neil Callaway exhibits A, B, C & D) but that would take most of the evening up. If any of you have access to Twitter, go to @UABStadium or the Free UAB & Blazertalk websites for more information/dialogue, or on the chance that you may want to lend some assistance in our quest, which would be completely appreciated. Several of us drafted printed and online petitions to submit to the board in support of the stadium, and we recieved signatures from fans of several universities, including Boise State, Florida Atlantic, Arizona State, Syracuse, Stanford, LSU, and a number of current members of Conference USA. Our local sports media leaves a lot to be desired, most of them are either Auburn or alabama fans, and treat UAB like invaders from another planet, and as far as Legion Field, UAB football are treated pretty much the same way by some members of the city's park board staff and security (including police officers), ,they're stuck in a time warp, living in the past, when Auburn and alabama used to play doubleheader football games at Legion Field way back when, but have long since gone to their own on-campus environments and have no more use for Birmingham, both they and the conference have left the city high and dry, not so much as playing a down of football in that stadium for years, yet the city officials saw fit to give the SEC a headquarters building for rent at the staggering price of - $1 a year. How spineless our so-called leaders are to pander to entities who do nothing for this city, but to ignore the team and the conference that has representation in your city is just mind-boggling to me. But, this is what UAB has to contend with, political interference from its own board of trustees and local governmental impotence/incompetence with Birmingham city officials. As Mick Foley used to say, they have no "testicular fortitude." The struggle continues...

It's apparent to me that the UTSA fans, the student body and the community at-large, are on the same page, and that both are very much proud of the venue known as the Alamodome, as well you should. It's extremely difficult to try and galvanize a fan base around a place like Legion Field, but we have no choice but to try.

Thanks for the info Matrix.
Yup, the RunnerNation bretheren above are pretty much on point. UTSA recenlty did sign a 25 year lease with The City of San Antonio to stay in the Dome.

Originally, there were plans for a 35k-45k on campus stadium that unfortunately, had not seen the serious funding/donations needed for it, so the UTSA big wigs did feel the Dome at a rather reasonable lease rate, was too good to pass up, especially with the current economy. The on campus football stadium has been scrapped indefinitely.

UAB fans, I sincerely hope y'all can move forward with a new on-campus stadium. The red tape and political maneuvering from your "older brother" must drive you crazy. We're rooting for you!

As for UTSA, the dynamics of our situation with the Alamodome are different than yours with Legion Field. We are probably one of a handful of programs happy to have an off-campus stadium and I think most of our fans like the Dome.

...Which is just as well, because we don't have money or land for a new football stadium right now, regardless:

The Paisano Wrote:According to Lipscomb and Athletics Director Lynn Hickey, plans for the complex have changed. “The (football stadium has) effectively been taken out of the Master Plan,” Lipscomb said. Last year, UTSA officials distanced the university from the idea of a Park West stadium, citing a lack of space and the first-class fan and athlete experience at the Alamodome. Hickey solidified this position, saying, “We have a great place to play in the Alamodome, and we do not have enough land at Park West to accommodate a football stadium and the necessary parking. We have a great situation with the City of San Antonio in utilizing the Alamodome and are currently working on finalizing a long term contract for UTSA Football in the Alamodome.”

http://www.paisano-online.com/news/utsa-...A5m96DKrCE