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Babcock discusses Nippert renovation
Whit Babcock discusses UC's Nippert Stadium renovation
AD: 'It was not, if you do this, conference realignment will follow'
Jul. 22, 2013
Written by
Bill Koch
Formulating a plan to upgrade Nippert Stadium was one of athletic director Whit Babcock’s top priorities almost from the moment he arrived at the University of Cincinnati after his hiring in October, 2011.
The 35,000-seat stadium, located in the center of campus, lacks premium seating and basic fan amenities, with narrow concourses, as well as limited concession and rest room facilities. Even though Babcock acknowledges that the stadium, which was dedicated in 1924, exudes a certain charm, it didn’t take him long to realize that “we were just way behind the curve on that.”
Twenty months after Babcock was introduced as UC’s athletic director, the school announced on June 25 that the Board of Trustees had approved plans for an $86-million renovation – the first for Nippert since 1992 - that will increase seating capacity to roughly 40,000, financed by private donations and revenue from premium seating that will be built on the west side of the stadium.
“This facility will give us the ability to double our revenue from the whole rest of the stadium,” Babcock said.
The Nippert Stadium renovation has long been considered crucial to UC’s success not only in football, but in the entire athletics program. When UC was left out of the five major conferences in the most recent wave of realignment, the project assumed greater urgency. Babcock, who was the executive associate AD at Missouri before UC hired him, has been the driving force behind it.
“A lot of things conspired to make this happen,” said Larry Sheakley, one of the top financial supporters of UC football. “Whit has been a huge part of that, plus the fact that some people woke up and saw what was happening in college football and started looking at the landscape and said, ‘We either have got to get in or get out.’ The president (Santa Ono) has done a great job of backing athletics. And the board really stepped up and realized the value of athletics and what they can do for the university.”
As he analyzed the situation, Babcock’s first step was to decide if the Bearcats would be better off financially by moving their games downtown to Paul Brown Stadium rather than spending the money to renovate Nippert. The answer was an unequivocal ‘no’.
“We did surveys and while people liked going to Paul Brown here and there it was overwhelming in favor of Nippert Stadium,” Babcock said. “The financial piece of moving downtown was not a long-term solution. Playing in a 35,000-seat stadium, even without the renovation, was more financially viable than moving downtown.”
Babcock, who emphasized that the project has been very much a team effort from across the university community, began with a request to see if any plans had been done for Nippert before his arrival. There were several versions, including one that would increase seating capacity to 50,000 or 60,000 but would be much more costly. Babcock zeroed in on the one that focused on the west side of the stadium, next to Tangeman University Center, because it was significantly less expensive than the other options while still fitting the school’s needs.
“I was really pleased when I asked if anyone had looked at that and they said, ‘We’ve done study after study after study,’ ” Babcock said. “It had either never been pursued or they just never found a model that worked. I just took a small piece of that study and said, ‘Let’s lock in on this.’
“There’s a lot of people to study. You don’t have to be the smartest person to figure it out. Kansas State is a project that we looked at a lot. Missouri is doing some stuff, so obviously I had some relationships there. It doesn’t take much to call some people and ask them, what did you price (premium seats) at? What sold and what problems did you have?”
Details of the financing aren’t final yet, but Babcock said the school has determined that the new seating will generate enough money to pay off the annual debt and to generate a profit beyond that.
“We know we’re on the plus side,” Babcock said. “Now let’s keep going. We’re not borrowing $86 million to break even.”
The new pavilion will have three levels – a club level, a suite level and a press level that will also include suites and coaches boxes. Naming rights will be sold for each level. UC already has commitments for the suites and loge boxes, but has yet to begin its push to sell approximately 1,500 club seats.
The original plans called for 23 suites at an annual cost of $40,000 or $50,000 per year, but UC’s research showed that Virginia Tech succeeded by building larger suites near the 50-yard line and charging $100,000. So the design was changed to include 18 suites at the higher cost. Instead of producing $920,000 a year, they will produce $1.8 million.
The new construction will also include patio suites - outdoor loge boxes with four or eight seats. The price for those is still being adjusted, but Babcock said the response has been encouraging.
In addition to the cost of the premium seating, UC also asked donors to make philanthropic gifts and so far has about $10 million in commitments, according to Babcock.
“There are people coming out of the woodwork that necessarily did not want to go out and sit in Nippert Stadium because the seating was pretty uncomfortable,” Sheakley said. “I have and continue to have an awful lot of people ask me questions because they know I’m close to the program. I do try to pitch it to people who I think will step up.”
The east side of the stadium will not receive premium seating, but will undergo a facelift in an attempt to improve the fan experience.
“It was really the board and the president who said if we’re going to do the west side we ought to do some work on the east side as well,” Babcock said. “They had the vision for that. The east side was not on my radar.”
When fans exit the upper deck on the east side, they’ll still have the option of walking down to the present concourse area as they do now, but after the renovation they’ll have the additional option of walking across a bridge to a brick plaza that will be located inside the stadium boundary.
The Sheakley Lawn, currently located outside the stadium, will become part of the stadium footprint and will be used for fan activities before the game. A wrought-iron fence will extend to the left field wall of Marge Schott Stadium so the east side concourse can be expanded. New concession spaces will be carved into the Varsity Village parking garage.
The project has been on a fast track, with the first detailed drawings produced last December. From December through June, UC officials met with key contributors to gauge the level of support.
“They answered the bell,” Babcock said.
There are no plans to replace the existing bleacher seats with chair back seats, but Babcock said he would not rule that out in the future.
“It’s something that we’re looking at,” Babcock said. “We’re looking at maybe starting on the press box side because the club seats will overhang some of the lower bowl, so you could put chair back seating maybe under that overhang and work on some revenue there.
“But I don’t think you put chair back seating all throughout your student seating. We like to pack them in there and they like to stand. But sideline seats down the road could be chair back. That’s something we would look at. It might lower your capacity but you could charge more per seat that way. And it’s a lot more comfortable.”
The renovation, Babcock said, is not solely a response to conference realignment but if there is more movement, UC will likely be better positioned from a facilities standpoint than it was the last time.
“I’m really sincere when I say that’s a good project financially because it’s a good project financially,” Babcock said. “Whatever league we would be in, the recommendation wouldn’t have changed.
“I do think with all the conference realignment churning so fast it enabled us to have a sense of urgency that we’ve got to do something different, but it was not, if you do this, conference realignment will follow. What we can do with our stadium ideally is to change our financial model, make it a tougher place to play, generate some revenue and build up all of our sports and start being really competitive across the board.”
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130...ck_check=1
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Babcock discusses Nippert renovation
