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New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
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Captain Bearcat Offline
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Post: #1
New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
I almost hate to throw this out there:

New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid

"The University of Cincinnati now has something else it can show off to the Big 12 Conference – a signed contract to renovate the Bearcats' basketball arena. Skanska and Megan Construction on Monday announced they have signed a $70 million deal to overhaul Fifth Third Arena. The construction firms made the official announcement, not the university, which still has more fundraising to do for the $87 million project. UC has a fundraising deadline set for next month, but it has received enough commitments for some work to start in June... UC originally planned to start major renovations two months ago. But after fundraising initially lagged, the university decided in December to push back a bulk of the work until April 2017."

Sounds like they're doing everything they can to appear attractive to the Big 12 ahead of the Big 12's rumored meeting about expansion this month. But UC still wants to avoid the appearance that academic funds will be diverted to this project (which is why the construction firms made the announcement).

Here's another interesting tidbit:

"The University of Memphis, one of UC's American Athletic Conference rivals, has pledged to make $500 million in facilities upgrades if it joins the Big 12"
05-17-2016 01:37 PM
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CougarRed Offline
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Post: #2
RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
The Memphis pledge is for academic as well as athletic infrastructure. I assume most of it is academic since their main stadiums and arenas are already in place.

And I assume that much of it was already planned -- not "new just for the Big 12." For example, I know they are building an indoor practice facility for football and a new basketball development center.

Houston has spent over billion in the last five years on academic and athletic infrastructure. More is on the way. It's a complete overhaul on the athletic side: new football stadium, new football IPF, new football operations center, new basketball development center, $60M basketball arena renovation, $10M improvements to baseball facilities, etc. By ~2018, athletics will have received nearly $300M in facility upgrades. No one in G5 has spent more. Cincy is next with their Nippert and Fifth Third projects totaling $175M.
(This post was last modified: 05-17-2016 02:07 PM by CougarRed.)
05-17-2016 02:06 PM
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CliftonAve Offline
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Post: #3
RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
(05-17-2016 02:06 PM)CougarRed Wrote:  The Memphis pledge is for academic as well as athletic infrastructure. I assume most of it is academic since their main stadiums and arenas are already in place.

And I assume that much of it was already planned -- not "new just for the Big 12." For example, I know they are building an indoor practice facility for football and a new basketball development center.

Houston has spent over billion in the last five years on academic and athletic infrastructure. More is on the way. It's a complete overhaul on the athletic side: new football stadium, new football IPF, new football operations center, new basketball development center, $60M basketball arena renovation, $10M improvements to baseball facilities, etc. By ~2018, athletics will have received nearly $300M in facility upgrades. No one in G5 has spent more. Cincy is next with their Nippert and Fifth Third projects totaling $175M.

I hate to get in a Richard measuring contest, but UC has spent over $300M as well. In addition to these two projects UC spent $100M on Varsity Village, built an IPF, overhauled the baseball stadium, new soccer facilities, and more.

Basically you folks in Houston are following the model we have been doing for the past decade.
05-17-2016 02:22 PM
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BigHouston Offline
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Post: #4
RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
(05-17-2016 02:22 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  
(05-17-2016 02:06 PM)CougarRed Wrote:  The Memphis pledge is for academic as well as athletic infrastructure. I assume most of it is academic since their main stadiums and arenas are already in place.

And I assume that much of it was already planned -- not "new just for the Big 12." For example, I know they are building an indoor practice facility for football and a new basketball development center.

Houston has spent over billion in the last five years on academic and athletic infrastructure. More is on the way. It's a complete overhaul on the athletic side: new football stadium, new football IPF, new football operations center, new basketball development center, $60M basketball arena renovation, $10M improvements to baseball facilities, etc. By ~2018, athletics will have received nearly $300M in facility upgrades. No one in G5 has spent more. Cincy is next with their Nippert and Fifth Third projects totaling $175M.

I hate to get in a Richard measuring contest, but UC has spent over $300M as well. In addition to these two projects UC spent $100M on Varsity Village, built an IPF, overhauled the baseball stadium, new soccer facilities, and more.

Basically you folks in Houston are following the model we have been doing for the past decade.

Houston isn't following Cincinnati's, Houston is only following it's own dedicated model.
05-17-2016 04:34 PM
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Rabbit_in_Red Offline
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RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
Forgive me if this is an ignorant question: But how, if at all, does this effect the renovations of USBank Arena?

Side question: Other than being a pain in the ass building to work in, what is USBank Arena's purpose if Cincinnati has Fifth Third Arena? (I've never even seen Fifth Third Arena, but have done numerous shows in USBank)
05-17-2016 04:51 PM
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Captain Bearcat Offline
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RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
(05-17-2016 04:51 PM)Rabbit_in_Red Wrote:  Forgive me if this is an ignorant question: But how, if at all, does this effect the renovations of USBank Arena?

Side question: Other than being a pain in the ass building to work in, what is USBank Arena's purpose if Cincinnati has Fifth Third Arena? (I've never even seen Fifth Third Arena, but have done numerous shows in USBank)


There's little reason IMO for the city to renovate US Bank. Cincinnati has 6 basketball/hockey arenas that seat over 9,000 (NKU, Miami, Xavier, UC, Cincinnati Gardens & US Bank). There's also Riverbend (20k), the Lindner Tennis Center (Center court seats 11k), Nippert (40k) and the two pro sports stadiums.

But US Bank isn't owned by the city. The company that owns the arena is Anschutz Entertainment, which is "the world's largest owner of sports teams and sports events" and "the world's second largest presenter of live music and entertainment events." Anschutz also owns the primary tenant of US Bank, the minor league hockey Cincinnati Cyclones (they also own many other hockey teams, including the LA Kings). The Cyclones have been around for 25 years and are fairly popular for a minor league team.
05-17-2016 06:40 PM
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shere khan Offline
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Post: #7
Re: RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
(05-17-2016 02:06 PM)CougarRed Wrote:  The Memphis pledge is for academic as well as athletic infrastructure. I assume most of it is academic since their main stadiums and arenas are already in place.

And I assume that much of it was already planned -- not "new just for the Big 12." For example, I know they are building an indoor practice facility for football and a new basketball development center.

Houston has spent over billion in the last five years on academic and athletic infrastructure. More is on the way. It's a complete overhaul on the athletic side: new football stadium, new football IPF, new football operations center, new basketball development center, $60M basketball arena renovation, $10M improvements to baseball facilities, etc. By ~2018, athletics will have received nearly $300M in facility upgrades. No one in G5 has spent more. Cincy is next with their Nippert and Fifth Third projects totaling $175M.

In fairness houston was such a trainnwreck it needed to spend more
05-17-2016 06:46 PM
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Captain Bearcat Offline
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RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
(05-17-2016 04:34 PM)BigHouston Wrote:  
(05-17-2016 02:22 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  
(05-17-2016 02:06 PM)CougarRed Wrote:  The Memphis pledge is for academic as well as athletic infrastructure. I assume most of it is academic since their main stadiums and arenas are already in place.

And I assume that much of it was already planned -- not "new just for the Big 12." For example, I know they are building an indoor practice facility for football and a new basketball development center.

Houston has spent over billion in the last five years on academic and athletic infrastructure. More is on the way. It's a complete overhaul on the athletic side: new football stadium, new football IPF, new football operations center, new basketball development center, $60M basketball arena renovation, $10M improvements to baseball facilities, etc. By ~2018, athletics will have received nearly $300M in facility upgrades. No one in G5 has spent more. Cincy is next with their Nippert and Fifth Third projects totaling $175M.

I hate to get in a Richard measuring contest, but UC has spent over $300M as well. In addition to these two projects UC spent $100M on Varsity Village, built an IPF, overhauled the baseball stadium, new soccer facilities, and more.

Basically you folks in Houston are following the model we have been doing for the past decade.

Houston isn't following Cincinnati's, Houston is only following it's own dedicated model.

They'd be foolish if they didn't evaluate Cincinnati's plan before doing their own.

We spent about $2 billion on new buildings from 1992 to 2004. It's been a phenomenal success. Several publications name us one of the most beautiful campuses in the world. It's helped us attract better students and faculty and led to a big bump in our academic rankings.

Cincinnati in 1991 was much like Houston is today - primarily a commuter campus that was overrun with surface parking lots. It would be pretty negligent if Houston's planners didn't at least look at Cincinnati's plan and see what parts of it they could apply to Houston.
05-17-2016 06:58 PM
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DogPoundNorth Offline
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Post: #9
RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
I was unaware that the B12 was even looking to expand, they haven't made any such announcement. Interesting.
05-17-2016 08:09 PM
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Post: #10
RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
(05-17-2016 08:09 PM)DogPoundNorth Wrote:  I was unaware that the B12 was even looking to expand, they haven't made any such announcement. Interesting.
They have only publicly said that they are evaluating expansion. That is ample reason for a public University to spend a few hundred mil to improve its odds slightly on the off chance that they actually decide to go ahead.
05-17-2016 08:27 PM
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CougarRed Offline
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RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
(05-17-2016 06:58 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  Houston would be foolish if they didn't evaluate Cincinnati's plan before doing their own.

We spent about $2 billion on new buildings from 1992 to 2004. It's been a phenomenal success. Several publications name us one of the most beautiful campuses in the world. It's helped us attract better students and faculty and led to a big bump in our academic rankings.

Cincinnati in 1991 was much like Houston is today - primarily a commuter campus that was overrun with surface parking lots. It would be pretty negligent if Houston's planners didn't at least look at Cincinnati's plan and see what parts of it they could apply to Houston.

Your perceptions are outdated.

Houston has made the investment ever since Renu Khator arrived in 2008. Here's a brochure outlining $1B in capital projects from 2009-14 including several new dormatories and parking garages. We have close to 9,000 beds on campus. We continue to build.

The investment has paid off. Graduation rates are the slowest to move, and so are the rankings that rely heavily on them such as USNWR.

However, the admission metrics at Houston such as average freshman test scores have skyrocketed since 2008 (1150 SAT from 1055).

And probably most encouragingly, UH has the fastest rate of application growth among Texas public schools: from 11.4K for the fall 2009 freshmen to ~23K (preliminary estimate) for the freshman class of 2016. We are definitely a "hot" school.
(This post was last modified: 05-17-2016 10:13 PM by CougarRed.)
05-17-2016 10:12 PM
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RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
(05-17-2016 02:22 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  
(05-17-2016 02:06 PM)CougarRed Wrote:  The Memphis pledge is for academic as well as athletic infrastructure. I assume most of it is academic since their main stadiums and arenas are already in place.

And I assume that much of it was already planned -- not "new just for the Big 12." For example, I know they are building an indoor practice facility for football and a new basketball development center.

Houston has spent over billion in the last five years on academic and athletic infrastructure. More is on the way. It's a complete overhaul on the athletic side: new football stadium, new football IPF, new football operations center, new basketball development center, $60M basketball arena renovation, $10M improvements to baseball facilities, etc. By ~2018, athletics will have received nearly $300M in facility upgrades. No one in G5 has spent more. Cincy is next with their Nippert and Fifth Third projects totaling $175M.

I hate to get in a Richard measuring contest, but UC has spent over $300M as well. In addition to these two projects UC spent $100M on Varsity Village, built an IPF, overhauled the baseball stadium, new soccer facilities, and more.

Basically you folks in Houston are following the model we have been doing for the past decade.

Who, in the American, hasn't spent or is in the process of planning spending on athletics. If you start adding in academic expenditures everyone is in the hundreds of millions. UC and UH aren't unique.
05-18-2016 08:22 AM
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CliftonAve Offline
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Post: #13
RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
(05-18-2016 08:22 AM)FrancisDrake Wrote:  
(05-17-2016 02:22 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  
(05-17-2016 02:06 PM)CougarRed Wrote:  The Memphis pledge is for academic as well as athletic infrastructure. I assume most of it is academic since their main stadiums and arenas are already in place.

And I assume that much of it was already planned -- not "new just for the Big 12." For example, I know they are building an indoor practice facility for football and a new basketball development center.

Houston has spent over billion in the last five years on academic and athletic infrastructure. More is on the way. It's a complete overhaul on the athletic side: new football stadium, new football IPF, new football operations center, new basketball development center, $60M basketball arena renovation, $10M improvements to baseball facilities, etc. By ~2018, athletics will have received nearly $300M in facility upgrades. No one in G5 has spent more. Cincy is next with their Nippert and Fifth Third projects totaling $175M.

I hate to get in a Richard measuring contest, but UC has spent over $300M as well. In addition to these two projects UC spent $100M on Varsity Village, built an IPF, overhauled the baseball stadium, new soccer facilities, and more.

Basically you folks in Houston are following the model we have been doing for the past decade.

Who, in the American, hasn't spent or is in the process of planning spending on athletics. If you start adding in academic expenditures everyone is in the hundreds of millions. UC and UH aren't unique.

Fair point. Everyone in the conference is raising the bar. My response was not meant to slight anyone else, but to point out to the Houston fan that his school was not alone in their expenditures.
05-18-2016 08:28 AM
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Post: #14
RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
(05-17-2016 08:09 PM)DogPoundNorth Wrote:  I was unaware that the B12 was even looking to expand, they haven't made any such announcement. Interesting.
They haven't exactly kept it a secret that they are discussing it.
05-18-2016 09:11 AM
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Rabbit_in_Red Offline
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RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
(05-17-2016 06:58 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  
(05-17-2016 04:34 PM)BigHouston Wrote:  
(05-17-2016 02:22 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  
(05-17-2016 02:06 PM)CougarRed Wrote:  The Memphis pledge is for academic as well as athletic infrastructure. I assume most of it is academic since their main stadiums and arenas are already in place.

And I assume that much of it was already planned -- not "new just for the Big 12." For example, I know they are building an indoor practice facility for football and a new basketball development center.

Houston has spent over billion in the last five years on academic and athletic infrastructure. More is on the way. It's a complete overhaul on the athletic side: new football stadium, new football IPF, new football operations center, new basketball development center, $60M basketball arena renovation, $10M improvements to baseball facilities, etc. By ~2018, athletics will have received nearly $300M in facility upgrades. No one in G5 has spent more. Cincy is next with their Nippert and Fifth Third projects totaling $175M.

I hate to get in a Richard measuring contest, but UC has spent over $300M as well. In addition to these two projects UC spent $100M on Varsity Village, built an IPF, overhauled the baseball stadium, new soccer facilities, and more.

Basically you folks in Houston are following the model we have been doing for the past decade.

Houston isn't following Cincinnati's, Houston is only following it's own dedicated model.

They'd be foolish if they didn't evaluate Cincinnati's plan before doing their own.

Frankly, Louisville too. Cincinnati's campus looks amazing, and I'm really glad to see all of the transformations that've gone on on Louisville's campus to make it look even better as well. If you'd told me that UofL officials toured Cincinnati's campus to get ideas on how to shed the commuter college aesthetics, it wouldn't shock me any.

Cincinnati's one of those schools I love to hate 'cause of our history together, but it's all in fun truthfully. I've nothing but respect for the Bearcats, and REALLY want to renew our rivalry with you guys.04-cheers
05-18-2016 09:38 AM
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Captain Bearcat Offline
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Post: #16
RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
(05-17-2016 10:12 PM)CougarRed Wrote:  
(05-17-2016 06:58 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  Houston would be foolish if they didn't evaluate Cincinnati's plan before doing their own.

We spent about $2 billion on new buildings from 1992 to 2004. It's been a phenomenal success. Several publications name us one of the most beautiful campuses in the world. It's helped us attract better students and faculty and led to a big bump in our academic rankings.

Cincinnati in 1991 was much like Houston is today - primarily a commuter campus that was overrun with surface parking lots. It would be pretty negligent if Houston's planners didn't at least look at Cincinnati's plan and see what parts of it they could apply to Houston.

Your perceptions are outdated.

Houston has made the investment ever since Renu Khator arrived in 2008. Here's a brochure outlining $1B in capital projects from 2009-14 including several new dormatories and parking garages. We have close to 9,000 beds on campus. We continue to build.

The investment has paid off. Graduation rates are the slowest to move, and so are the rankings that rely heavily on them such as USNWR.

However, the admission metrics at Houston such as average freshman test scores have skyrocketed since 2008 (1150 SAT from 1055).

And probably most encouragingly, UH has the fastest rate of application growth among Texas public schools: from 11.4K for the fall 2009 freshmen to ~23K (preliminary estimate) for the freshman class of 2016. We are definitely a "hot" school.

All I did was look at the campus map on google and saw lots of surface parking lots. That's exactly how UC's campus looked in the 80s, and that's a sign that there's lots of commuters.

It's great that Houston has a plan to change that. 9,000 on-campus beds is a terrific start. I noticed that Houston has done a lot of public-private partnerships in building their dorms, just like UC started doing in the early 00s.

Another part of what UC did was push to build up the density in the surrounding neighborhoods - I notice that most of the area around Houston is single-family houses. UC has at least 15,000 students living just off campus in housing that isn't in any way affiliated with the university. That should be even easier for Houston than for Cincinnati because in addition to a very hilly neighborhood, we also have to share it with 8 hospitals, a major zoo, and Hebrew Union College - all within a mile of campus.
05-18-2016 03:28 PM
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NBPirate Offline
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RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
ECU has spent and plans to spend around half-a-billion dollars over the past 8 years on athletics alone.
05-18-2016 03:38 PM
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RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
My weenie is bigger than yours!
05-18-2016 05:37 PM
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CougarRed Offline
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RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
(05-18-2016 03:38 PM)NBPirate Wrote:  ECU has spent and plans to spend around half-a-billion dollars over the past 8 years on athletics alone.

OK, I give up.

You spent $20M on the football stadium project in 2010. You've just announced a $55M football stadium project which also includes renovations to the training center and a baseball/softball hitting cage. You built a $17M basketball practice facility. There was a $24M project for Olympic sport stadiums (softball, soccer and track). There was a lighting project at Minges Coliseum and Minges Natatorium for about $1M in 2014

That's $117M. Where's the other $383M?

Even if you go back to 2005 and count the baseball stadium and the Murphy Center, that's only another $24M.
05-18-2016 05:56 PM
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RE: New UC arena contract enhances Big 12 bid
(05-18-2016 05:56 PM)CougarRed Wrote:  
(05-18-2016 03:38 PM)NBPirate Wrote:  ECU has spent and plans to spend around half-a-billion dollars over the past 8 years on athletics alone.

OK, I give up.

You spent $20M on the football stadium project in 2010. You've just announced a $55M football stadium project which also includes renovations to the training center and a baseball/softball hitting cage. You built a $17M basketball practice facility. There was a $24M project for Olympic sport stadiums (softball, soccer and track). There was a lighting project at Minges Coliseum and Minges Natatorium for about $1M in 2014

That's $117M. Where's the other $383M?

Even if you go back to 2005 and count the baseball stadium and the Murphy Center, that's only another $24M.

Some men are hung like horses, some horses are hung like ECU Pirates.
Cheers!
05-18-2016 06:20 PM
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