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Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
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dbackjon Offline
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Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
https://bangordailynews.com/2020/10/07/s...acilities/

Unprecedented $90M gift for UMaine athletics will revamp school’s struggling facilities


The University of Maine’s needy athletic facilities have received a major shot in the arm.

The Harold Alfond Foundation is providing the athletic department with an unprecedented gift of $90 million, the organization announced on Wednesday morning. It will be the largest single gift to athletics at a public university in New England and among the largest gifts ever, nationwide.

It was part of a $240 million grant to the University of Maine system.

It will be distributed over the next 10 years and is the lead gift in a planned $110 million investment in athletic facilities on the Orono campus. All the money is expected to be funded through private philanthropy.

The transformative gift will go toward capital projects in direct support of the master plan to upgrade the athletic facilities.
10-07-2020 03:31 PM
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DoubleRSU Offline
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
Maine to AAC & FBS confirmed.
10-07-2020 03:40 PM
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dbackjon Offline
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
(10-07-2020 03:40 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  Maine to AAC & FBS confirmed.

WAC!
10-07-2020 03:52 PM
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quo vadis Offline
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
Can't help but think there are better ways to spend $90 million.
(This post was last modified: 10-07-2020 04:03 PM by quo vadis.)
10-07-2020 04:02 PM
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CliftonAve Online
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
(10-07-2020 03:40 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  Maine to AAC & FBS confirmed.

Nope. This is a southern league with a dash of Cincinnati and Temple. This league is not going to go back to the New England well, just not a cultural fit.

If Maine goes to the FBS I could see possibility of them going Indy and having scheduling alliances with UMass, UConn, Liberty, etc.
10-07-2020 04:16 PM
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colohank Offline
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
(10-07-2020 04:02 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  Can't help but think there are better ways to spend $90 million.

If you were to donate $90 million, you could probably specify how it should be used. Otherwise...
10-07-2020 04:33 PM
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Steve1981 Online
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
Great news for the Black Bears. Perhaps this will end the bickering of Southern CAA teams. This was when they expanded deeper south, adding George State. The increase travel and lots of other reasons as almost all AAU universities have FBS football, which UMass left for the MAC. URI then announced moving to the NEC. CAA Football then did an about face from expanding it's footprint to the south. Convinced URI to stay and added two northern teams, U Albany and Stony Brook.

Hope UMaine continues it's strong presence in the CAA/A10/Yankee Conference.
Go Black Bears!
10-07-2020 04:43 PM
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quo vadis Offline
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
(10-07-2020 04:16 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  
(10-07-2020 03:40 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  Maine to AAC & FBS confirmed.

Nope. This is a southern league with a dash of Cincinnati and Temple. This league is not going to go back to the New England well, just not a cultural fit.

If Maine goes to the FBS I could see possibility of them going Indy and having scheduling alliances with UMass, UConn, Liberty, etc.

People keep saying this, and it's true as far as sheer numerical geography is concerned, but nevertheless on a scale of "cultural southerness" of 1 to 10, the AAC scores about a two. It has almost no southern cultural feel to it at all. Among the ten FBS conferences, only the B1G, PAC, MW, and MAC - the four obviously western and northern conferences - score lower than it.

Truth is, Cincy and Temple fit culturally like a glove in the AAC. Moreso than Memphis or UCF.

Part of the reason is DNA - the eastern and northern schools have largely left the AAC, but their echoes remain. The other part is that the AAC rims the south, nowhere does it penetrate and marinate in it, other than in New Orleans. And New Orleans is its own ecosystem.
(This post was last modified: 10-07-2020 04:54 PM by quo vadis.)
10-07-2020 04:53 PM
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DoubleRSU Offline
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
(10-07-2020 04:16 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  
(10-07-2020 03:40 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  Maine to AAC & FBS confirmed.

Nope. This is a southern league with a dash of Cincinnati and Temple. This league is not going to go back to the New England well, just not a cultural fit.

If Maine goes to the FBS I could see possibility of them going Indy and having scheduling alliances with UMass, UConn, Liberty, etc.

Sarcasm. Making fun of a certain poster on here
10-07-2020 05:07 PM
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Pervis_Griffith Offline
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
When UAB joins the AAC as the 12th school, it will DEFINITELY feel southern.

One more reason why they are a shoe-in for that spot. Albeit a minor reason .... good football, good hoops historically, brand new football stadium, recruiting footprint, geographical fit, and .... Southern feel.

07-coffee3
10-07-2020 05:08 PM
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Ohio Poly Offline
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
Holy chit. Good on them.
10-07-2020 06:27 PM
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BePcr07 Offline
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
The AM EAST isn’t bad and a good fit for Maine.
10-07-2020 08:02 PM
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ccd494 Offline
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
The bulk of this will be going to a new hockey/basketball arena.

Probably new football turf. That will probably chew up most of it. But still, exciting news.

The fund is named after the donor who initially donated the money for the existing hockey arena and football stadium, which both bear his name.
(This post was last modified: 10-07-2020 08:42 PM by ccd494.)
10-07-2020 08:41 PM
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Todor Offline
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
Hopefully this can kick start things for them. Even for small state, as a flag ship and only D1 school, they really don't put a very decent product out, hockey not withstanding.
(This post was last modified: 10-07-2020 11:41 PM by Todor.)
10-07-2020 09:40 PM
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ccd494 Offline
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
(10-07-2020 09:40 PM)Todor Wrote:  Hopefully this can kick start things for them. Even for small state, as a flag ship and only D1 school, they really don't put a very decent product out, hockey not withstanding.

This won't change a whole lot, except maybe rejuvenate hockey which would be great.

It's a geographically isolated location, tough to convince a basketball player from the Acela corridor that they are better off in Orono than at one of the dozens of schools near their homes.

The football program was in an FCS semifinal a few years ago, and lives off of under recruited kids from the mid-Atlantic. That will likely stay the same. Hard to see any kids coming to Maine over Villanova, Delaware, James Madison when those schools are closer to home.

Maine is the oldest and whitest state in the nation, and campus is located two hours north of the only real "city" in the state. The campus makeup reflects that. Attracting and retaining athletes from the US has always been a problem. Most sports rely on Canadians and Europeans.
10-08-2020 12:31 PM
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BraveKnight Offline
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
Vermont and Maine to A10, kick out Fordham and LaSalle.
10-08-2020 12:34 PM
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IWokeUpLikeThis Offline
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
It's really too bad Maine isn't located in Portland. Instead, it's stuck in a 10k town 2 hours even more isolated from the rest of the country.
10-08-2020 12:36 PM
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ccd494 Offline
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
(10-08-2020 12:36 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  It's really too bad Maine isn't located in Portland. Instead, it's stuck in a 10k town 2 hours even more isolated from the rest of the country.

The school is properly located for its academic priorities: agriculture, forestry, and engineering. To the extent that it is an academic institution with athletics as an appendage, there is no issue. If you consider colleges as athletic programs that happen to teach basket-weaving, the flagship is in a tough spot.
10-08-2020 12:39 PM
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IWokeUpLikeThis Offline
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
(10-08-2020 12:36 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  It's really too bad Maine isn't located in Portland. Instead, it's stuck in a 10k town 2 hours even more isolated from the rest of the country.

Although, surprisingly, United flies nonstop between Chicago and Orono, so Maine appears to have better flight availability than expected.
10-08-2020 12:40 PM
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ccd494 Offline
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RE: Maine Athletics gets $90 Million donation
(10-08-2020 12:40 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  
(10-08-2020 12:36 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  It's really too bad Maine isn't located in Portland. Instead, it's stuck in a 10k town 2 hours even more isolated from the rest of the country.

Although, surprisingly, United flies nonstop between Chicago and Orono, so Maine appears to have better flight availability than expected.

The distance to play other schools isn't the issue, it's the distance from where the athletes are. There are direct flights to Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia, etc.

If you are from Boston/New York/Baltimore/etc., why play in Orono when you can play at 10 schools who are closer, go home more often, and have your family watch you play without giving up a whole weekend and having to fly?
10-08-2020 12:44 PM
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