(12-10-2019 02:44 PM)hsvtiger Wrote:  

(12-10-2019 01:47 PM)salukiblue Wrote:  I would vote to just demolish one end of the LB to make it a horseshoe.

Put a party deck with cabanas there. Maybe a pool for the august-oct games.

43k

Problem solved.

Interesting. There are lots of ideas that could work.

Aren't the locker rooms in the End Zones now?

(12-10-2019 12:39 PM)salukiblue Wrote:  How long has the IPF taken from announcement until now?

Is it done yet?

What was the price tag for an IPF?

What would be the price tag for a reasonable OCS?

LIUN?

Any demolition, redesign, major re-construction at the LB is likely to cost 75% or more of a new construction.

Simply tarping seats is not the answer. If you could tarp them in a way you could project advertising on them, then you are getting somewhere.

We could put actual video screens under the press boxes. That might could be done in a way they were removable. That would reduce the seat count and add advertising. That's a win-win.

(12-10-2019 02:21 PM)pkptigers07 Wrote:  

(12-10-2019 12:16 PM)tigergreen Wrote:  

(12-10-2019 11:29 AM)pkptigers07 Wrote:  

(12-10-2019 10:42 AM)tigergreen Wrote:  

(12-10-2019 02:44 AM)Stammers Wrote:  That isn't what was said. What was said is that there are laws that prevent the school from having a huge loan. The only entity that could legally give us a big loan like that would be the city, and they would expect anything built to be suitable to host the Liberty Bowl.

Add in the fact that the university currently has TONS of debt on other campus improvements (land bridge, new rec center, Centennial Place, other coming on-campus housing options, additions of a middle school & HS, etc.).

Unless a massive, massive donation comes in directly for it, the money is not going to be there for an OCS, nor will it be for the foreseeable future.

I was as pro-OCS as they came, but I also understand the financial limitations. Other on-campus improvements simply have to happen prior to an OCS.

The amount of debt the university has is surely a factor here. There may be specific restrictions on our BOT that wouldn’t allow a project this size without large state involvement or The conversation Geoff spoke of could have been more related to the university needing a partner the size of the city government in order to float that many bonds in conjunction with the other outstanding and upcoming projects.

The rec center was downsized and became the Center for Health and Wellness with a significant educational aspect with the School of Health Studies because the bonds on the existing rec center area still not fully paid. The IPF was delayed because of the multiple other projects (basketball faculty, land bridge, etc) that couldn’t all be out for bonds at the exact same time.

I do believe Dr Rudd has said that the university will no longer be in the dorm construction business though. I’d expect to see more partnerships like what is going on with the Gather instead.

That's correct, but all of that still costs money. There is a plan to add more apartments or housing of some sort closer to Central as well, so that's going to get tacked onto the already ballooning debt the UofM has.

Rudd is a very forward-thinking person, but that doesn't mean he's all that great when it comes to finances. My personal take on it is once we get that Carnegie R1 status, he's on to the next thing and we're left with a crapton of debt. Hopefully by then more state funding is rolling in for us to put us on a more equal footing with the UT system.

I don’t believe there is any debt associated with the Gather acquisition. It was a long term building lease after the land is purchased that involves Memphis managing the property for 20 years and then the building being seeded to the UofM at the end of the lease.

The project near central was part of a land swap in which the UofM provided land on the west side of Deloach in exchange for land on Brister between Midland and Mynders. Apartments will be privately built and operated but will revert to UofM ownership at the end of a 20-30 year lease.

Gotcha - I couldn't remember what the deal was with the Deloach housing; I just knew it was something else coming up relatively quickly.

The Gather is most definitely costing the UofM money - it's nicknamed "The Bother" due to all of the repairs they're already having to take on there. It's not true "debt" per se, but it's still expense.

(12-10-2019 01:45 PM)hsvtiger Wrote:  Keep driving toward an OCS, at some point, LBMS must be replaced but very serviceable for now. In the meantime, use tarps to right-size the stadium to 40K or whatever makes sense. Easy.

Tacos in the end zones.
Video boards for advertising under press boxes on both sides.
Chairback more.

That should take care of things.

(12-10-2019 11:05 AM)TigerPete Wrote:  I am shocked at the amount of the keeping the LB advocates.

Let's be honest...when you see a Memphis game on TV with the empty seats it looks awful. The stadium is WAY too big and it honestly isn't fair to the 30-40k diehards who go each week that they have to sit in a 30 to 40% empty stadium. The atmosphere suffers dramatically. Going to UCF for championship game last year in their 40k OCS was one of best college football atmospheres we have ever seen.

An OCS would totally transform the university. My wife and I are both alums and have 3 kids between middle school and a senior in HS. Do you know how many times my kids have been on the university campus? NONE! How many times have they been to the LB? Probably 50 times or more. Imagine if all those games they would have been ON CAMPUS. How would those kids/teenagers view the university differently? Are they more likely to want to attend the university because of their love for the school and campus?

It would be trans-formative for the school and city. And create a sense of pride and unity the university has never seen before. It would be OURS. The University has bowed down to the city for way to long. We need to seize the momentum while hot and no better time than now. Do it.

I've lost a lot of steam, but I agree with this post 100%. And if you read this, and understand the point, you see how ABSOLUTELY STUPID it would be to build a new stadium either downtown like some people have suggested, or even on South Campus or Audubon Park. What a colossal waste of money and opportunity that would be.

(12-10-2019 06:25 PM)geosnooker2000 Wrote:  

(12-10-2019 11:05 AM)TigerPete Wrote:  I am shocked at the amount of the keeping the LB advocates.

Let's be honest...when you see a Memphis game on TV with the empty seats it looks awful. The stadium is WAY too big and it honestly isn't fair to the 30-40k diehards who go each week that they have to sit in a 30 to 40% empty stadium. The atmosphere suffers dramatically. Going to UCF for championship game last year in their 40k OCS was one of best college football atmospheres we have ever seen.

An OCS would totally transform the university. My wife and I are both alums and have yu 3 kids between middle school and a senior in HS. Do you know how many times my kids have been on the university campus? NONE! How many times have they been to the LB? Probably 50 times or more. Imagine if all those games they would have been ON CAMPUS. How would those kids/teenagers view the university differently? Are they more likely to want to attend the university because of their love for the school and campus?

It would be trans-formative for the school and city. And create a sense of pride and unity the university has never seen before. It would be OURS. The University has bowed down to the city for way to long. We need to seize the momentum while hot and no better time than now. Do it.

I've lost a lot of steam, but I agree with this post 100%. And if you read this, and understand the point, you see how ABSOLUTELY STUPID it would be to build a new stadium either downtown like some people have suggested, or even on South Campus or Audubon Park. What a colossal waste of money and opportunity that would be.

Exactly. If the university is going to lead the effort then the new stadium needs to be on campus.

(12-10-2019 01:33 PM)Stammers Wrote:  

(12-10-2019 01:18 PM)tigerlands Wrote:  

(12-10-2019 12:52 PM)TubbyBall Wrote:  

(12-10-2019 12:44 PM)tigerlands Wrote:  

(12-10-2019 12:39 PM)salukiblue Wrote:  How long has the IPF taken from announcement until now?

Is it done yet?

What was the price tag for an IPF?

What would be the price tag for a reasonable OCS?

Oh lordy, a well done 40K stadium would be way north of $100 million. We struggled to get the IPF built. Your point is well taken.

It would be in the 200 range now. It would require a large booster, field naming rights, Jumbotron ads, ribbon adds etc. it can be done but a large booster would have to fund at least 25% of it

I read somewhere that the new Houston stadium cost around $120 million. Its nice, not as nice as Baylor though. But that's the difference that P5 money can make.

$128 million and it is a nice structure, but it has no chairback seating and the exterior is nice but sparse. You can see that that is difference between $128 and $200 million.

chairbacks between the 20 yard lines, lower level

houston stadium

(12-10-2019 07:24 AM)UMTiger02 Wrote:  

(12-10-2019 07:04 AM)BigBlueTiger901 Wrote:  

(12-09-2019 09:43 PM)ddramone Wrote:  Does anybody have any clue about how much chairbacking would run?

Truthfully, chairbacking (and well done chairbacking) would make the LB very nice. The LB has great sightlines and when there's a good crowd, the LB really looks good.

I think the issue with chairbacking is both the cost and ADA. Does anybody have any additional insight on that?

A very nice, all-chairback LB with a capacity of around 50k would be stellar. Not as good as an OCS, but would be quite nice.

Ranked in the top 20. 12 wins. Conference Championship. Cotton Bowl bid.

Still couldn't fill the place.

That's the problem. Everyone is giving up on our fan base and I don't blame them.

No. The problem is the size of the Liberty Bowl. There is literally zero Non Power 5 stadiums where the home team draws 55-60,000. Build a new stadium. 40-45,000 and go from there.

Isn’t the end-game here to get into a P5 conference? There are only 7 P5 schools with stadiums of 45K or less. How will decreasing our capacity to the bottom 15% of P5 stadiums help convince any P5 conference we are a prime candidate? We would essentially be saying we give up on drawing crowds any larger than what we have now. In fact, our average attendance may very well decrease because it would be impossible to draw the kind of crowds we have for high-interest games like SMU this year, Navy in 2015 or various SEC opponents in the past.

It’s worth asking why P5 schools in oversized municipal stadiums (UCLA, USC, Miami, Pitt) haven’t built their own. Pitt, in fact, demolished their OCS and moved to Heinz Field. And those are considerably larger and/or wealthier schools than we are.

If amateur economists and architects think it's an easy fix, it must be as easy-peasy as they say.

(12-11-2019 12:22 AM)CRM114 Wrote:  

(12-10-2019 07:24 AM)UMTiger02 Wrote:  

(12-10-2019 07:04 AM)BigBlueTiger901 Wrote:  

(12-09-2019 09:43 PM)ddramone Wrote:  Does anybody have any clue about how much chairbacking would run?

Truthfully, chairbacking (and well done chairbacking) would make the LB very nice. The LB has great sightlines and when there's a good crowd, the LB really looks good.

I think the issue with chairbacking is both the cost and ADA. Does anybody have any additional insight on that?

A very nice, all-chairback LB with a capacity of around 50k would be stellar. Not as good as an OCS, but would be quite nice.

Ranked in the top 20. 12 wins. Conference Championship. Cotton Bowl bid.

Still couldn't fill the place.

That's the problem. Everyone is giving up on our fan base and I don't blame them.

No. The problem is the size of the Liberty Bowl. There is literally zero Non Power 5 stadiums where the home team draws 55-60,000. Build a new stadium. 40-45,000 and go from there.

Isn’t the end-game here to get into a P5 conference? There are only 7 P5 schools with stadiums of 45K or less. How will decreasing our capacity to the bottom 15% of P5 stadiums help convince any P5 conference we are a prime candidate? We would essentially be saying we give up on drawing crowds any larger than what we have now. In fact, our average attendance may very well decrease because it would be impossible to draw the kind of crowds we have for high-interest games like SMU this year, Navy in 2015 or various SEC opponents in the past.

It’s worth asking why P5 schools in oversized municipal stadiums (UCLA, USC, Miami, Pitt) haven’t built their own. Pitt, in fact, demolished their OCS and moved to Heinz Field. And those are considerably larger and/or wealthier schools than we are.

Reasons, campus location, real estate availability & costs.

(12-11-2019 07:31 AM)kabluey Wrote:  If amateur economists and architects think it's an easy fix, it must be as easy-peasy as they say.

Fyi... I'm not an amateur Architect.