This is depressing:
The Record
Rutgers to add 12,000 seats,luxury boxes to stadium
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
By PATRICIA ALEX
STAFF WRITER
Rutgers University is drawing plans for a $116 million expansion of its football stadium, adding luxury boxes and more than 12,000 seats, according to information obtained by The Record.
The university, still reeling from a budget crisis last year that forced cuts in staff and courses, has already committed almost $1 million for design work.
Plans call for an initial grant of $30 million from the state. Though it involves public money, the athletic department has kept the details of the expansion under wraps.
The improvements would be complete in time for the 2009 season, documents say, and are meant to capitalize on the team's turnaround over the past two seasons, engineered by coach Greg Schiano. The Scarlet Knights compiled an impressive 11-2 record last season.
The 2007 season begins at home against Buffalo on Aug. 30, and tickets for home games will be harder to come by than in the past. Nearly 6,000 people are on a season ticket waiting list, said Robert Mulcahy III, head of the athletic department. The department is taking the unusual step of offering single-game tickets first to those on the waiting list for season tickets.
"Based on the response to tickets, we realize there is a need and we have to find a way to address that," said Mulcahy. He said expansion proposals are still in their infancy and must be brought before the board of governors and other university groups before they are discussed publicly.
But documents acquired by The Record show plans well under way and, according to a source, a construction manager and other personnel have already been identified.
The university signed a contract in April agreeing to pay HOK Sports up to $970,000 for design work for the expansion. The Record received a copy of the contract under the state's Open Public Records Act. Rutgers denied requests for details and cost estimates, and Mulcahy declined to discuss specifics, saying it was too early in the process.
But an estimate prepared by Mulcahy's department and obtained by The Record shows a total project cost of $116 million. The public university would sell bonds to raise $86 million and obtain a $30 million state grant under the plan.
Governor Corzine has been advised of the expansion plans, said his spokesman, Brendan Gilfillan. "We're reviewing them," he said. "No decisions have been made."
University President Richard McCormick has deferred comment on the stadium to Mulcahy.
In the plan under discussion, stadium suites, loge boxes and club seating would come first, followed by the addition of 12,000 permanent seats that would enclose the one now-open end zone. Rutgers last year set up temporary seating there.
Design of a new practice facility is also part of the HOK contract. Schiano said he wasn't at liberty to say what the new facility might include, but that it was the subject of discussions.
The stadium expansion, he said, is the immediate need. "I think everyone realizes it all makes sense," Schiano said. "We're going to grow at a rate that allows us to keep growing consistently."
Since he came on board in 2000, Schiano has pushed for new facilities as part of Rutgers' bid to become a Division I powerhouse. At his behest, the school recently spent $12.5 million to build a new training facility for the team at the Hale Center. And Schiano, who will make more than a million dollars this year, has made it clear he wants more.
"There's a lot of things facility-wise that we have long-term plans for. Five-, 10-, 15-year plans," he said. "Right now our main focus is the stadium."
Some urge caution, noting that a winning team is a relatively recent phenomenon in the long history of Rutgers football and that the state's finances are tight.
State funding to higher education has lagged while tuition has continued to climb. It now costs $20,000 to live and study at Rutgers' flagship campus in New Brunswick/Piscataway.
This year, Mulcahy axed six Olympic sports -- including men's tennis, crew and swimming -- in what he said was an effort to streamline his department. The annual budgets of those teams was less than $1 million. Meanwhile, football spending has increased despite the fact that the program has needed as much as $3 million in university support to cover its deficits.
"It just seems to a lot of us at Rutgers University that we're sacrificing other sports for football," said Edward Fu, a senior. "It concerns me."
Momentum appears to be building for the expansion -- whetted in part by large billboards on the New Jersey Turnpike urging fans to sign up for the season ticket waiting list. Proponents of stadium expansion argue that the investment will allow the team to generate more profits. Rutgers estimates the new seating and parking could generate nearly $6.7 million in revenue by the 2010 season and increase thereafter.
Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway now seats fewer than 42,000. Other Top 25 teams play in much bigger venues. According to NCAA statistics, 45 Division I teams play in stadiums with capacities of at least 60,000.
Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan, D-Middlesex, had been critical of the decision to cut the Olympic sports. Nonetheless he said he thought public spending on the stadium would be a good investment in the future. He noted that large donors often are drawn by a successful football program.
"We all know the positive effect Rutgers football has had on our state, our image and the university in particular," he said.
Staff Writer Aditi Kinkhabwala contributed to this article. E-mail: a✧✧✧@northjer✧✧✧.c✧✧
― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 22 August 2007 21:53 (sixteen years ago) link
one year passes...