(09-28-2014 03:46 PM)LastMinuteman Wrote: (09-27-2014 11:42 PM)johnbragg Wrote: If you follow the link, you find gold.
Quote:Sinnett says the rented video board had a hydraulic failure that caused it to collapse onto its support shaft.
The rented video board.
Rented.
UMass fans who will find this thread soon, this is why the Sun Belt doesn't want you.
Yes, rented, as in temporary. That's what you do when you're not keeping the stadium as a permanent solution. That's why all of the new renovations, even the new pressbox, are standalone buildings that aren't physically connected to the rest of the stadium, so UMass doesn't have to re-build everything again in a few years. As a reminder, the MAC wanted Gillette Stadium and they wanted UMass to move immediately to balance Temple. That's why things have been done this way. The plan was always to rent equipment like the video board because UMass wasn't supposed to use this stadium more than once per season until at least 2017. It ought to be self-evident that this would be the smarter approach under those circumstances. Has anyone in the nation built a 2nd full-size football stadium with all the amenities knowing that it would almost never be used for football games? No? Well, neither has UMass yet.
1. Whether you like it or not, the on-campus place where FBS football games happen is seen by the world as "your stadium". And "your stadium" is a dump, by FBS standards.
2. "Why build a stadium we're going to only use once a year?" Hell if I know. Why did you spend $30M to upgrade a stadium you're only using once a year? What does Buffalo do when they host a Tuesday/Wednesday night MACtion game? Do that. Or people will look at your stadium which is a dump, and your team which is terrible, and the empty stands at Foxborough, and add it all together and evaluate your program as a failure.
3. "Yet". That would wash if there were a stadium plan in place, with financing, a groundbreaking date and a scheduled opening. Right now, you've got McGuirk and, for a while at least you have Gillette. I don't know how long Kraft keeps you in Gillette with the stadium empty, but I have no idea what the cost structure is--maybe 10,000 people buying beer and hotdogs makes it worth opening the stadium. Or maybe not.
The rented scoreboard is a microcosm and a symbol of UMass' nickel-and-dime approach to the high-stakes poker game of FBS football. You have a point about spending money wisely, but that's not how it's done in FBS. Ask Villanova.
EDIT: The entire UMass-to-FBS-in-Foxborough plan was based on the idea that there are tens of thousands of football-starved folks in the Boston area who would line up to spend $100 or so for a season ticket for lower-FBS football. That didn't happen, and now UMass is trying to figure out a backup plan.
UMass' powers-that-be don't consider FBS football to be a high priority (no to MAC full membership, FCS stadium pretending to be FBS, etc). FBS conferences see that.