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Cooging the UH Stadium Deal
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13thOwl Offline
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Post: #1
Cooging the UH Stadium Deal
So the students thought they were getting a deal...

http://thedailycougar.com/2014/11/03/has...enovation/
(This post was last modified: 11-06-2014 08:18 AM by 13thOwl.)
11-05-2014 04:20 PM
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13thOwl Offline
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Post: #2
RE: Cooging the UH Stadium Deal
Haston calls out UH over TDECU Stadium, Hofheinz renovation
By Cara Smith November 3, 2014

During the public comment portion of Monday’s SFAC hearings, Student Government Association President Charles Haston blasted the Department of Administration and Finance for failing to honor portions of the referendum that was voted on by the student body.

As a result, TDECU Stadium is not yet completed and is projected at $16 million “and counting” over budget, leaving the University without funding for the renovation of Hofheinz Pavilion.

During his address to the committee, Haston called upon SFAC and the student body to “take (the issue) very seriously.”

“The stadium is actually several million dollars over budget,” Haston said. “We don’t know where it’s going to end up, and we probably won’t for several months. Because it’s several millions dollars over budget, there’s no money to renovate Hofheinz. We don’t know when we’re going to start renovating Hofheinz.”

Passed in 2012, the Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU was included in the referendum that increased the Student Service Fee by $45. Among other things, this increase was passed to fund the construction of the new football stadium and the renovation of Hofheinz. Several portions of the Stadium, including the Spirit of Houston marching band practice facilities, have not yet been completed.

Haston emphasized that the MOU’s clauses have “a direct effect on students, including (allowing them) to utilize (TDECU Stadium and Hofheinz Pavilion) with no facility rental fee for events like Frontier Fiesta and Homecoming… considering it’s really students who have paid for these facilities.”

charles-sara-samora
SGA President Charles Haston addresses SFAC at the public comment format on Nov. 3. | Sara Samora/The Cougar

The MOU specifies that the $45 fee increase will be used “to complete financial support for two capital projects, specifically the construction of a new football stadium and renovation of Hofheinz Pavilion.” The MOU also explicitly calls for the student body to host “one student special event per year in the Stadium and Arena (total 2) with no facility rental fee.”

During its SFAC presentation on Friday, Frontier Fiesta submitted a one-time allocation of $96,990 to hold the three-day event in TDECU Stadium and its surrounding parking lots, a charge in direct violation of the MOU’s clause giving student organizations clearance to utilize the facility free of charge. Frontier Fiesta also submitted a one-time allocation of $132,500 for a predicted “increase in operational/production expenses for increase in size,” according to Frontier Fiesta’s SFAC report.

“Over the last four months, we’ve negotiated a cost of utilizing the stadium for Frontier Fiesta this coming year,” Haston said. “The original price quote we got back was in excess of $440,000 for utilizing that facility, despite the fact that the Memorandum of Understanding clearly states that we get to utilize those facilities at no facility usage fee.”

“(We have managed to) get that number down, but the fact that SGA has been put in this position to have to continue fighting for the MOU’s clauses and the enforcement of those clauses is just ridiculous,” Haston said.

“There are many points in the MOU that are not being honored.”

Haston also noted the Department of Administration and Finance refused to publicly present to SFAC, instead contacting several members of the committee and requesting to meet in a private setting, despite the fact that SFAC allocated upwards of $80 million to the stadium

“Every single student organization and department and division that receives Student Service Fee money is responsible for coming out and presenting to SFAC,” Haston said.

“That lack of transparency is not consistent with the usage of the Student Service Fee or with department and division expectations that come through SFAC.”

The MOU allows SGA to appoint “five to seven” students to a committee that will monitor and review athletics’ usage of the facilities funded by student fees. The committee will also examine the financial performance of TDECU Stadium and Hofheinz Pavilion, “as well as to review scheduling processes and planned maintenance.”

Haston called upon SFAC Chairman Nathan Alsbrooks and all students sitting on SFAC “to be that group of students to oversee the usage of these facilities.”

“Just because I formally gave Nathan that oversight doesn’t mean he didn’t have it already,” Haston said afterward. “SFAC has the oversight to monitor where student fees are going.”

At the address’ close, the committee did not offer any comments or ask questions.

“I think it’s important that this committee will keep people accountable who were responsible for actually making sure that we built a stadium and renovated Hofheinz with that money we agreed to spend,” Haston said.

news@thedailycougar.com

Tags: Charles Haston, Public Comment, SFAC, SGA
(This post was last modified: 11-06-2014 08:19 AM by 13thOwl.)
11-05-2014 04:23 PM
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Tiki Owl Offline
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Post: #3
RE: Cooging the UH Stafium Deal
Very interesting discussion in Coogfans on not only the cost overruns but also in the drop in projected ticket sales. This plus the debt service on all the new buildings on campus is making the renovation of Hofheinz in the near future in doubt(which as some say sure can't please Sampson).

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=215&f=2804&t=13331557
11-05-2014 07:13 PM
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WRCisforgotten79 Offline
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Post: #4
RE: Cooging the UH Stafium Deal
13thOwl "cooged" the word "stadium" ...
11-06-2014 02:13 AM
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Mademen Offline
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Post: #5
RE: Cooging the UH Stafium Deal
Yet another reason why massive changes are needed on Cullen Boulevard. I assume now that the chickens are coming home to roost Mack can stop patting himself on the back for "all" the money he raised. He raised jack squat. The stadium was built on student fees and the expectation of butts in seats. The butt kicking by UTSA cost the program millions in revenue. Charging our students $440,000 to use the facility for Frontier Fiesta is criminal gouging and I hope they sue.
11-06-2014 08:13 AM
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13thOwl Offline
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Post: #6
RE: Cooging the UH Stadium Deal
(11-06-2014 02:13 AM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  13thOwl "cooged" the word "stadium" ...

Guilty
(This post was last modified: 11-06-2014 08:20 AM by 13thOwl.)
11-06-2014 08:18 AM
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Tiki Owl Offline
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Post: #7
RE: Cooging the UH Stadium Deal
(11-06-2014 08:18 AM)13thOwl Wrote:  
(11-06-2014 02:13 AM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  13thOwl "cooged" the word "stadium" ...

Guilty

Quit picking on 13thOwl. It isn't his fault that UT allowed him to place out of Spelling 101 because they needed the seats for athletes. 03-lmfao
11-06-2014 10:10 AM
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13thOwl Offline
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Post: #8
RE: Cooging the UH Stadium Deal
(11-06-2014 10:10 AM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  
(11-06-2014 08:18 AM)13thOwl Wrote:  
(11-06-2014 02:13 AM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  13thOwl "cooged" the word "stadium" ...

Guilty

Quit picking on 13thOwl. It isn't his fault that UT allowed him to place out of Spelling 101 because they needed the seats for athletes. 03-lmfao

Too many accounting classes, besides, I thought you said spelling wasn't part of the grade on this test...
11-06-2014 11:18 AM
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I45owl Offline
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Post: #9
RE: Cooging the UH Stadium Deal
(11-06-2014 08:13 AM)Mademen Wrote:  Yet another reason why massive changes are needed on Cullen Boulevard. I assume now that the chickens are coming home to roost Mack can stop patting himself on the back for "all" the money he raised. He raised jack squat. The stadium was built on student fees and the expectation of butts in seats. The butt kicking by UTSA cost the program millions in revenue. Charging our students $440,000 to use the facility for Frontier Fiesta is criminal gouging and I hope they sue.

Average attendance (per uhcougars.com) is 28480. Assuming all of those are full price, and the expectation was a string of sellouts, that's around 60,000 seats that UTSA killed... at $30/ticket, that would be $1.8 million, which I think is a max of how much performance may have cost. It seems more reasonable to assume attendance may have averaged 33,000 at best with a decent season (even as UH looks to go 9-3/8-4 against a pretty weak schedule). That's still a drop in the bucket as far as financing a stadium. This seems like a massive planning failure.
11-06-2014 03:47 PM
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Hambone10 Offline
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Post: #10
RE: Cooging the UH Stadium Deal
It occurred to me that one significant advantage that Rice might have in such things is that because we don't have to pass bond elections or whatever to finance things, we can probably afford to pay a little more (or not use the lowest bidder in all cases) for things with a guarantee/security of no/fewer cost over-runs... while UH's problem seems pretty well due to exactly that. Maybe that's not the case... I have no idea... but I don't recall seeing many comments about cost over-runs in any of Rice's construction. ANyone else??
11-06-2014 04:07 PM
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texowl2 Offline
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Post: #11
RE: Cooging the UH Stadium Deal
(11-06-2014 03:47 PM)I45owl Wrote:  
(11-06-2014 08:13 AM)Mademen Wrote:  Yet another reason why massive changes are needed on Cullen Boulevard. I assume now that the chickens are coming home to roost Mack can stop patting himself on the back for "all" the money he raised. He raised jack squat. The stadium was built on student fees and the expectation of butts in seats. The butt kicking by UTSA cost the program millions in revenue. Charging our students $440,000 to use the facility for Frontier Fiesta is criminal gouging and I hope they sue.

Average attendance (per uhcougars.com) is 28480. Assuming all of those are full price, and the expectation was a string of sellouts, that's around 60,000 seats that UTSA killed... at $30/ticket, that would be $1.8 million, which I think is a max of how much performance may have cost. It seems more reasonable to assume attendance may have averaged 33,000 at best with a decent season (even as UH looks to go 9-3/8-4 against a pretty weak schedule). That's still a drop in the bucket as far as financing a stadium. This seems like a massive planning failure.

Doubt those are all full price as they have been running deals and there are groupons, living social and all that.

I find this all just hilarious as the refrain we heard is that the hoards of cougar fans were all there just waiting for the new stadium and it was going to be sellout city and their ticket to the SEC. And, even funnier, the planned for expansion to 50k or 60k would be starting really soon.

The only other thing more amusing was watching the Big East crater just after their entry. Well maybe I forgot to include "reading the post on Coogfans about all this".
11-06-2014 04:08 PM
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jh Offline
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Post: #12
RE: Cooging the UH Stadium Deal
(11-06-2014 04:07 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  It occurred to me that one significant advantage that Rice might have in such things is that because we don't have to pass bond elections or whatever to finance things, we can probably afford to pay a little more (or not use the lowest bidder in all cases) for things with a guarantee/security of no/fewer cost over-runs... while UH's problem seems pretty well due to exactly that. Maybe that's not the case... I have no idea... but I don't recall seeing many comments about cost over-runs in any of Rice's construction. ANyone else??

I don't think there is anything preventing UH from using the same types of contracts Rice does, and I'm guessing that they do (of course, I don't think either Rice or UH uses the same type of contract for all of their projects). Who has to eat the overruns just depends on how the contract is structured, how complete the design is when the construction contract is bid, and how many changes are made to the design after the bid.

[Image: ?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.contractortalk.com%2...mp;amp;f=1]

I don't specifically remember any cost overruns on Rice projects, but that could also be because fewer people are paying attention to the details. It's probably also easier for a private university to justify an overrun as an expansion of the scope of project, even if it's really just an overrun, than it is for a public university.
11-06-2014 04:51 PM
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Hambone10 Offline
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Post: #13
RE: Cooging the UH Stadium Deal
I think we essentially agree JH... Not a question of us being better (though we all know we are, lol)... merely the difference between a public and private entity using public/student vs private/donor funds. UH probably could use those same sorts of contracts, but they are rarely the lowest bid... and because they are public, they have to justify that more than we might.
11-06-2014 05:06 PM
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Brookes Owl Offline
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Post: #14
RE: Cooging the UH Stadium Deal
(11-06-2014 05:06 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  I think we essentially agree JH... Not a question of us being better (though we all know we are, lol)... merely the difference between a public and private entity using public/student vs private/donor funds. UH probably could use those same sorts of contracts, but they are rarely the lowest bid... and because they are public, they have to justify that more than we might.

Low bid and low cost are often very different things. jh's pic is fantastic.
(This post was last modified: 11-06-2014 05:22 PM by Brookes Owl.)
11-06-2014 05:20 PM
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Tiki Owl Offline
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Post: #15
RE: Cooging the UH Stadium Deal
I believe George Brown agreed that his company (Brown and Root) would cover any overage when they built Rice Stadium.
11-06-2014 06:33 PM
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owl at the moon Offline
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Cooging the UH Stadium Deal
Offer them Rice Stadium at no charge in exchange for them attending one of our FIU games at no charge next year
11-06-2014 10:22 PM
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Post: #17
RE: Cooging the UH Stadium Deal
Well there are probably some issues with the stadium on one hand. But on another hand, Houston will be getting some invaluable exposure over the next few weeks as the high school playoffs begin. I know next weekend, they're hosting a double header featuring four of the top five regional 5A teams in this area (Ridge Point, George Ranch, Elkins and Foster) at their new stadium.

Meanwhile, I doubt Rice could host any significant games at all this playoff season with its parking woes now at Rice Stadium.

I just don't know if we're in a position to crow much over any financial woes or behind-the-scenes drama involving TDECU Stadium.
11-07-2014 01:29 AM
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Post: #18
RE: Cooging the UH Stadium Deal
The stated attendance for the Tulane/UH game per ESPN was 32,205?

Any idea where the (Cougar and/or Tulane) fans were hiding as the video clips I saw suggested a TDECU Stadium that wasn't close to 80% (32k/40k) full?
11-08-2014 08:29 PM
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Post: #19
RE: Cooging the UH Stadium Deal
Initially UH planned the Stadium project in three phases, but then announced they were going to finish it outright. Like I said two years ago, a basic review of the numbers showed they were playing fast and very loose with the figures. Look for the $45 to go to $65 very soon.
11-15-2014 05:58 AM
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RE: Cooging the UH Stadium Deal
11-15-2014 09:16 AM
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